


Child of Nowhere

by AuthorA97



Series: Fallen Star [1]
Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: ADVENTURE!, Human goes to Doctor Who, Human turns into Time Lady, It's been done beyond regeneration, No OC/Doctor romance, maybe too much angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-10
Updated: 2018-01-17
Packaged: 2018-11-30 04:32:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 19
Words: 196,647
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11456070
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AuthorA97/pseuds/AuthorA97
Summary: She is an eccentric 15 year old from America. But she's running, as far as her legs will carry. She has no home, no family, she didn't exist before 2005. The Doctor runs into this girl, and finds out more about her than he wanted to. She's Terra Johnson, and she's the Last Time Lady.





	1. Time To Run

My name...well, my name’s not that important now. It will be later, but right now it’s just in the back. I’ve gone by a lot of names since I started this game, and I remember them all. It’s important to remember any name you’ve gone by, for a time that name was a part of you. Those names, my names, are ones I must always remember. It helps keep order in my complicated past.

I’m the Last of my kind. Now, I know what you’re thinking. The Klempari Defence. I have to be lying. Or, you are thinking  _ ‘another story about some girl who’s the last of her kind and then goes on adventures with the Doctor, but she’s actually just a lost Time Lady? Chameleon Circuit, or just plain ignorance?’ _

That’s partly true. I am a girl, I did find out I was a Time Lady, and I do travel with the Doctor. It would be heartbreaking, if that was the species I was talking about. My people, I don’t even have a name for them. For a while, I thought I was the last, but what seems more likely now is that I’m the First.

I’m the First of my kind. Bet you haven’t heard that one yet. (If you have, shut up. This is my story, and I’ll tell it how I like!)

I’m a subspecies of the human race, with a little quirk. Whenever I want, I can jump to the universe of my choosing. Any movie I see, I can be a part of. Same goes for books and videogames. It’s why I call my kind Jumpers, because we jump into the universe, not creative but I was ten when I did the name.

I’ve been on my own for awhile, picked up a partner or two in days gone by. My sister, Darcy Anderson, was off bounty hunting. She’s complicated.

When I go to places, it’s not just me appearing. It’s me taking the place of the me in that universe, backstory and all. I’ll get the memories of that person, but in flashes (and usually right before I need them, kinda sucks to be honest). The families of the me in that universe I call Dummy-Families, they follow what I say almost to the letter. It ticked me off, until I found out why they’re Dummy-Parents. That had been a fun day.

Anyway. Darcy was a unique case. Nowhere, in any universe I jumped, had there been a sister for me. An  _ identical twin _ sister at that. She didn’t curve to my Dummy-Parent demand to stay out of a dangerous fight, instead charging in headfirst. I guess you could say she was the first to gain sentience. I told her all about my powers, and asked if she wanted to come with me. Like I said, I’d never had a sister before and I had always wanted one. She had said yes before I could even finish talking. It was kinda funny, to be honest.

Darcy was a good kid, one of the best.

Another fun feature of Jumpers, I’m essentially immortal. My physical form doesn’t jump to the universe, just my mental one. I live a couple of years in the universe, have some fun and save the day, then I go Home to find barely an hour has passed. I once spent a whole decade in a cartoon, and came Home to find myself ten again.

You’ll notice I used the age ten a lot. That was when I first found out what I was, first discovered my powers. Literally, it was my tenth birthday. I was watching a movie with my family, and suddenly found myself in the universe of  _ Monsters, Inc. _ It took me awhile to realize they weren’t just very vivid dreams. It was a reality separate to my own, a whole other world just a blink away.

It got lonely, hence why I picked up Darcy.

Now, comes the part most of you came here for.  _ Doctor Who _ . I had seen my brothers watching the show before, not noticing much about it. At first, I thought it was a new show based on a comic book. My first episode had been  _ Angels Take Manhattan _ .

So of course, as I person with a severe hero complex, I had to come to  _ Doctor Who _ .

It took a couple of months to get the whole thing together. Watching the series three times over, figuring out my Plans for certain episodes, and doing research on the show itself.

I kept away from  _ Classic Who _ as many fans called it. Not because I was a  _ Matt Smith Fangirl _ , but because it felt a bit like an invasion of privacy after watching the _ New Who _ . It would have been safer, in case for some reason I end up in a dump in 1963, or with the Scarf, Mr. Celery, Question-Mark-Man, The Technicolor Dreamcoat, or the poetic Eighth one. Still working on his nickname, to be honest.

You’re probably wondering about what I look like. My original body is a recently turned fifteen year old, fair skin covered in freckles, a curly mop of raven wing hair, and sunshine amber eyes. It was funny, no matter what universe I went to I always had amber eyes.

I didn’t know what I looked like here.

All I knew was that my body was glowing with bright yellow regeneration energy.

When the last of it faded away, I took a deep breath as if to calm myself down. It was a rush those first few seconds, like at the start of a rollercoaster.

There room I was in looked like it had just survived a fire, with ash gray walls and carpet. The only thing in here besides me was a golden mirror. The only clean thing in this room too. 

The face I had was heart shaped, I had bright amber eyes and short cocoa brown hair with long choppy bangs in the front.

I was wearing a grass green top that had some leafy patterns, almost like a Tinkerbell dress. I was wearing some jeans that were cut loosely around my knees. A pair of green slippers covered my feet as well as a pair of green anklets.

“I have got to say, of all my faces I think this one is the cutest! I look like a younger, amber eyed, pale Christina Grimmie. Could be worse. Could look like me. Now that would be bad.” I said, running my thin fingers thru my now shorter hair. “Actually, changed my mind. Hate this short hair. I can  _ feel _ a breeze on my neck.”

“Terra...” A familiar voice spoke.

I turned back and saw Matt Smith’s Doctor. Oswin stood next to him and a girl who looked almost exactly like me stood behind Oswin.

The real me, Morgan me. She was wearing a dark red Hard Rock Cafe shirt. A faded jean jacket was over her arms, making her look rebellious, like a biker chick. She had black jeans on, going to her dark pink sneakers with darker blue laces. Her raven hair was pulled back into a high ponytail. I could see a watch on her left hand, kinda metallic.

Her face looked pretty busted up. Her lip had a cut on it, and her left eye was black. She was smiling, though, a pained smile.

The Doctor was wearing a purple overcoat, black trousers, brown boots, a dark blue vest with a gold pocket watch on it, and under it all was a bright blue button up. He wasn’t wearing a red or blue bowtie, it was purple. Oswin was wearing a black jacket over a red undershirt, and a black skirt. Her brown hair was let down, past her shoulders. It looked nice, but her brown eyes filled with shock didn’t help.

Oswin. Yep. Remembered her. Oswin Oswald, Junior Flight Entertainment Manager of Starship Alaska. She died because she was actually a human turned Dalek. Yet here she was, standing in modern day clothes and looking not even the slightest bit Dalek.

This was complicated.

Then again,  _ Doctor Who. _

“Hey.” I said, not sure how to greet them.

Future Me walked up to me, giving me that same smile. “Hello. Welcome to First Day.”

Nervously, I nodded. “Okay. Great.”

“You picked your name yet?” Future Me asked.

“Uhh...well...I was thinking maybe Terra?” I said, hesitantly looking over at Eleven. He didn’t look very happy. “After that Teen Titan we like.”

Future Me laughed, wincing so slightly it was almost imperceptible. Unless you’re me, of course. I know my own face. She’s scared, nervous. Something messed up, either with me or since I arrived and I bet Eleven’s ‘slow burning anger’ look is a part of it.

“Terra’s perfect.” Future Me said. “Last name?”

Okay. I was drawing a blank on that one. I glanced over to Eleven, hoping that Future Me remembered the message.

She did. “Don’t worry. You’ll do fine.” She looked down at the metallic watch.

“Terra, shouldn’t we be...I don’t know...running?” Oswin asked, looking back to the door.

Future Me (screw it. I’m calling her Terra) kept staring at the watch.

“Terra, it’s not safe.” The Doctor stressed, walking up to her right side. “He is still here.” He said, quietly.

“I know.” Terra commented, staring at the watch.

I found myself looking at the watch as well, as if expecting to see a countdown. There was just an electronic watch, with block numbers.

“You know?!” Oswin gaped. “Then why are we still here?”

“Cause she needs to run.” Terra said.

I gaped at her. She wanted to me run? She wanted me to have a need to run. Why? What was so important about my running?

Oswin stormed up to Terra’s left side. “Look at her! She’s already terrified! She already wants to run!”

“I remember, and I remember that she  _ needs _ to run.” Terra stressed, not taking her eyes off the watch. “She’s nervous that I haven’t looked away from this watch, because that means there’s a time that’s important.”

I felt the Doctor’s eyes move to me. My eyes were now stuck on the seconds of her watch, barely able to tell the numbers were ticking up from 8:47:38...39...40...

Taking a quick breath to calm myself, I looked up at Terra. “Alright. I need to be scared. I need a reason to run, right?” Terra didn’t look up. “Can you tell me why?”

“Tell me in your own words what a  _ stressor _ is.” Terra said.

“Terra!” The Doctor shouted. “We need to get back to the TARDIS  now! It’s not safe here, and he will find you, find her.”

“He already has. Remember how she got here?” Terra snapped. She huffed, angrily.

Never taking her eyes off the watch.

“A stressor of the boiling point of an unsub. The point when all of their pent up rage explodes, and they act on their held back desires.” I said in a rush. “They usually end up reflecting on the victims.”

“Good, good.” Terra nodded. “Why am I asking you about stressors?”

It took me four seconds. The watch counted. “Because whoever I’m running from, his stressor is important to why I’m scared.” I said. “He probably wants me scared, like Ge-” My eyes widened.

Oh, Terra was a genius!

She glanced up at me, a faint smirk quickly covered with a look of fear. “Now do you get it?”

I nodded mutely, playing with her act.

There was a man I helped fight once, George Foyet. Or, The Reaper. He was (putting it simply) a monster come to life. He killed 36 people before his eventual capture, and nearly killed a few friends of mine. One such friend was Aaron Hotchner, although he did kill...no spoilers. Hotch had to resign as my unit chief in the BAU so Foyet would think Hotch was losing it, letting Foyet gain a false sense of security. That would be when he made a mistake, and that is how we caught him.

So, basically, it’s what I’m doing right now. Future, and present.

This meant the guy was watching us, he had to see me scared with his own eyes. I didn’t see any cameras earlier, put they might be hidden either behind that mirror or the rock wall. What? I’ve seen some two-way rock walls. They exist, they’re a thing, I saw them on TV.

Terra looked back to the watch. “8:49.” She elbowed the Doctor. “Tell her the date.”

“No. Terra, this has gone on far enough!” The Doctor argued.

“He’s going to kill you!” Oswin added. She gestured at me. “He’s already killed her! I mean, you! God this is confusing!” She finished, frustrated.

“Which means she’s the safest person here.” Terra argued. “Time Ladies have a 15 hour period after regeneration where they can heal any extraordinary wound. She can loose her legs and just grow them back. Like a starfish.” Terra smirked. “Haha. Starfish.”

“Did you just think of Patrick Star with me for a head?” I asked, offended.

Terra blinked. “Wow. Perceptive even at that age.” She chuckled, voice still shaking in that almost imperceptible way. “No wonder I’m the best.”

“Terra, look at her. She’s scared!” The Doctor argued. He gestured wildly at me. “She’s plenty scared enough to run!”

“For a few minutes.” Terra answered, trying to sound bored. “She needs to run for longer. You remember how she was back with Nine. She needs to be  _ that _ .”

The Doctor apparently had enough of this nonsense. He reached over, taking my hand. He started dragging me towards the door.

“Tell her the date, Doctor.” Terra pleaded. “ _ Please. _ ” Her voice was soft at the end.

The Doctor went through a complete one-eighty. It was like Terra had said some code word, something that showed him how serious it all was. He let go of my hand, slowly turning back to face me. I put on a brave face, still showing that fear in case the unsub was watching.

The ancient alien looked down at me. “September 17th, 2013.”

My eyes widened. Terra quickly inhaled. “Terra, tell him why that date is important.” Her voice cracked at the end, yet sounded far off. She was remembering something, probably reliving this experience. Only this time she knew how it started and how it would end.

“It’s.” I gulped. “My birthday. My sixteenth birthday...back Home.”

Terra smirked, shakily. “Good.” She laughed nervously. “8:50. You’re 179 years old?” I nodded. “It’s all good...”

_ “Let’s change that.” _ A dark voice spoke in my mind.

Terra winced. I nearly jumped out of my skin. This had not been my first run with telepathy, but this voice felt wrong. It grated against my mind, like sandpaper.

“Terra?” The Doctor said, rushing up to my side. He held my arm, supporting me.

“Wha-who-” I stuttered.

“Logan.” Terra almost whimpered.

That wasn’t an act that time. She was sincere in her terror. The voice had to be in her head as well, a memory of this wouldn’t be enough to make her that scared.

The Doctor held me tighter. Oswin walked up to Terra’s side, putting a comforting hand on her shoulder. The Time Lady was shaking slightly, her watch hand twitching. “Is he talking to you in your head?”

“Both of them.” The Doctor said, gently trying to lift me to my feet. “How is he doing that?”

“Logan’s impressive when he wants to scare me.” Terra offered as explanation. I had to actually listen to hear what she said.

She had talked so confidently earlier, like she was a Queen Bee and this was her kingdom. It was weird seeing an older version of myself be headstrong. But after Logan talked in our heads it was like she shattered. Just what did Logan do to her that made her so terrified?

Or...have I gone soft and she’s still faking?

“I take it Logan is the unsub.” I commented.

“Yep.” Terra nodded her head. “T-That’s him.”

“Great.” I held back an urge to roll my eyes, instead looking around the room as if trying to look him in the eye. “Is Logan your first name?

_ “Garfield Logan.” _ His voice was in my head again. I half winced at the sandpaper feeling as it came back. Terra’s other hand lashed out, grabbing Oswin’s.

“That name sucks.” I tested, trying to gauge his reaction.

“Terra!” The Doctor hissed at me. Darn it, wrong reaction. “Don’t argue with him! He killed you not even ten minutes ago!”

_ “Well, since you go by Terra now, I thought why not play along? You can call me Beast Boy if you prefer.”  _ The voice chuckled, as if amused by my tests.

“You know some facts about the Teen Titans, s-so what?” I said, trying to keep a pretense of false bravado. “Tell me, ‘Logan’, why are you doing this? Why do you want me scared? Why am I so scared of you when I’m her?” I pointed at the almost trembling Terra.

_ “Because I want to make  _ you  _ scared. I want to make you scream every time a pin drops. I want it so that the next time you hear my voice or see my face, your body freezes in fear. I want you to be afraid of me, so that I can do what I want with you.” _ The voice said.  _ “I want you scared, Morgan, simply because you’re so adorable when petrified.” _

That one made me a little scared.

“See the problem now?” Terra whimpered.

She wasn’t faking it. She was as scared as I was. He knew our name? How? No one ever knew my name in a jump unless I used my real one, and I use Terra. I’ve done some research on it, and Time Lords can only share their name with family and their spouse. She was too scared (and we were too smart) for it to have been a romance, so what else?

He’s attacking on our birthday, the big 16th. That meant he knew us, closely. That was a birthday I had been looking forward to ever since I actually turned sixteen for the first time and couldn’t wait until the next one.

You know what, I can think about all of this later. For now let’s just stick to the present.

“He said our name.” I breathed. “How does he know that? I thought Time Lords can’t say their name-”

“You’ll find out someday.” Terra said, pulling Oswin closer into a hug.

The Doctor held me tighter, pulling me a little closer to him. He took a step back, his hand reaching into the purple tweed coat to find his sonic. He winced, moving his hand away.

_ “I’d rather if she found out today.” _ Logan taunted.

Out of nowhere, the Doctor opened the door behind us. He dragged me out of it, with Terra and Oswin following behind us. The four of us started running. Oh, what a delight.

The Doctor guided me through several long halls, but I was thinking of our turns.  _ Turn right to get out. Right. Right. Forward. Left. Forward. _

_ “What are you doing?!”  _ Logan shouted.

“How long have we been playing this game, Logan?” Terra shouted, in that Queen Bee tone from earlier. “Long enough for me to memorize this building.”

The Doctor came up to a door, trying to use force to open it. 

“Long enough to remember the way out.” Terra said. “Long enough for me to do this.” She paused, then sighed. “Doc, ya gotta move.”

_ “Don’t you dare!” _ Logan growled.  _ “Morgan, don’t you dare!” _

The Doctor looked back, and his eyes widened. Now I have to see what Terra has in her hand.

I turned back, and my jaw dropped. “Oh my God!” Oswin yelped.

Terra was holding a laser gun. “I remember thinking I was badass.”

I nodded. “Yep. Definitely badass.”

She smirked, firing the gun. The door was blasted to bits. “Move!”

The four of us ran out of the building, and kept running even after. I could see the TARDIS off in the distance, a good couple hundred yards away.

“Why the hell are we still-” My questioned was answered before I could ask it.

The building exploding. The blast sending some of us to the dirt below.

It took a moment or so, but Terra rose up to her feet. The Doctor followed, walking up behind her a putting a hand on her shoulder.

“I remember kicking your ass.” Terra said. The statement would have been awesome, if she didn’t say it with an almost defeated tone.

 

==CON==

 

The Doctor and Oswin had gone off into the TARDIS, after Terra convinced them it was safe. She sat me down on the dirt below. She had taken off the watch, if only to fix her tight ponytail.

“No one can say First Day’s are boring.” She joked.

I nodded, laughing. “And that was clever, using the George Foyet tactic.”

Terra smirked, nodding her head smugly. I’d seen Darcy do it a billion times. She changed it to one of teasing humility. “I know, I don’t mean to brag, but I’m a genius.”

“Preaching to the choir, sister.”

“Can you really call me sister considering I’m a Future You?”

“We’re technically related as twins.”

“Little smartass.”

“Thank ya kindly.”

The two of us chuckled.

Terra took a deep breath, as if preparing for a long speech. “You’re a Time Lady, a real Time Lady from the Gallifrey.”

“Meaning I need to be careful at telling the Doctor, because it’s gone.” I finished.

Terra hesitated. “It’s in a Time Lock.” She corrected.

I raised a brow. “It  _ is _ gone, right?”

“That’s...where it gets complicated.” Terra said. “You’ll have to wait until  _ Planet of the Dead _ to find out what happened.”

I nodded. “That’s simple enough.”

“You have to go Home after each season.” Terra said. “You leave before  _ Journey’s End _ , because, well, it’s  _ Journey’s End _ and then you leave after it because, it’s the  _ end _ of  _ Journey’s End _ .”

“Damn it.” I groaned. That did not bode well for me.

“Oh. This is important.” Terra gave me a hard look. “Minisodes.”

“Minisodes?” I repeated.

“Minisodes.” Terra said. “The Doctor has a ton of those, especially as Eleven. Good night, last night, Pond life, Time, this really funny one with Donna and Ten in school, and one more that I can’t remember but it was really funny. Oh, and Oswin will have one with the TARDIS later where she talks to it, and Eleven and River get one called  _ Rain Gods.  _ That one has to be my favorite.”

I nodded. “Got it. Minisodes.”

“Lastly, yes. The TARDIS can hear your thoughts.” Terra said. My eyes widened. I liked keeping those private! “Hey, you have fifteen mental walls around your mind. The TARDIS understands what we are, and tries to help whenever she can. She’s kinda like a big sister. She also likes it when you call her Idris and talk to her. She’s like Mom, words of affirmation.”

I nodded, pretending to know what those words meant. “Who are we?”

“A Time Lady from Gallifrey.” Terra said, not giving me the answer I wanted.

“You gotta lie better than that.” I instructed.

She nodded. “I know. but, anything else I tell you will change your future, my past. I liked it the way it was. I can’t even tell you our Dalek name because it’ll spoil the future.” Terra said, shaking her head. “Wait...no...I knew my name...I remember that now...I...we...” She shook her head again. “Let me start over.”

“That sentence got away from you, didn’t it?”

She laughed. “Yes.” She sighed. “They call us ‘the Fallen Star’.”

My jaw dropped in disappointment. “That’s a stupid name.”

“You won’t be saying that in fourteen years.” Terra smirked.

I groaned. “Why do Future Me’s hate me?”

“Because they know it’s no longer their job to relay the message. Now it’s all on you.” Terra said, confidently. “Oh, and, I would be careful when you Wake Up. Darcy was left alone.”

I groaned. “Ugh. That girl is gonna be the death of me.” I said, hoping to get a reaction.

Terra just laughed. “Oh, believe me, it’s not from lack of trying.”

“What?” I asked, hoping for more.

“Nope.”

I nodded. Terra was giving me spoilers to my future, not really much else to say. I just really wanted to know!

“This is my third regeneration. Fourth incarnation, so I’m Terra Four. I have a very large family back Home, still growing now.”

I nodded, letting the information sink in. “Alright. Anything else I should know?”

“Yes. Terra is a name that comes with promises. A Time Lord name is like a promise you make, to yourself and to others. My promise, and Her promise, was that I would never stop trying to make people smile. I will always do I can to protect my friends. I promised that I would always…always stay true to myself.” Morgan explained. “I Pinkie Promised it too. I also added that I would always find a way back to my family. No matter what.”

“Uh…cool.” I said. “Is there anything else I need to know?”

Terra laughed. “Calm down! You look like I’m about to explain your death. I know how you get nervous in these situations, and we’re pressed for time, so here.”

She reached into her bag, pulling out a small black book.

“This book has all the facts you’ll need to know.” Terra explained, handing it over to me. “It won’t say much, because you can only know so much. You can be a bitch when you wanna be.”

I ignored that last part, instead I started to open it.

“Wait until you get into the TARDIS.” Terra said, panicked. I paused, looking up at her with concern. “Time lines and stuff, Morgue. I gotta make sure it plays out exactly like I remember.”

Hesitantly, I nodded. There was something in this book she didn’t want me seeing yet.

“It has your cover story.” Terra explained. “The family De-” She winced. “The family  _ we _ had on Earth.”

“Had.” I pointed out.

“You’ll find out when you read the book.” She said, rolling her eyes in teasing annoyance. I smirked.

Terra pushed herself to her feet, holding out her hand to help me to mine. “Now come on. You need to get yourself settled and prepared to fight the Living Plastic.” She explained, walking towards the TARDIS door.

I waited a moment. Living Plastic, cool. That’s the villain I  _ wanted _ to defeat! I already had an idea of how to do it.

“Oh. And the Doctor knows about our powers.”

I stopped in my steps. “What?”

“Come on, Terra, we have a Doctor’s appointment.”

 

==CON==

 

The Doctor wouldn’t look at me.

It wasn’t so much that he didn’t like I was there, it was just that he was glaring at Terra. (Okay. I feel like it’s confusing again. I’m Terra, and she’s Terra. How about I call her Four?)

Four was standing in the doorway, leaning against the doorway. “So, I’ll have to stick around here for a few minutes. Paradoxes and all that, garbage. You stay feisty.”

I was gaping at the TARDIS.

Four laughed, nervously. “Okay. Doc, come pick me up once you leave her behind.”

The Doctor ignored her. Four winced, looking down at her sneakers. I guess the Jumper thing came as a big shock to him.

Four closed the TARDIS door, and immediately the TARDIS noise started.

“Go on. Say it. They all do.” The Doctor said, sounding bored and miffed. He flung a random lever, making the noise even louder.

I gaped at Eleventh’s TARDIS. The whirring was like music to my ears. The cold silver metal made me feel at home, like I belonged here. This seemed like a place I could always run to, even in my times of needs.

I turned to him. “Does it have Wi-Fi?”

Oswin giggled off to the side. The Doctor gaped at me like I just spat in his tea. Oh, that look was fun. I would need to see it again.

“What?” He asked.

“Does it have Wifi?” I repeated. “I would like some Wi-Fi.”

The Doctor frowned, making a grump face. “You’re inside a time machine, and you ask about the Wi-Fi?”

“When did I ever say this one made sense?” I countered his argument. The Doctor actually looked a bit surprised by by that. I smirked. “Terrific.” My eyes widened. “Like that word. I’m gonna use it.”

Then, I looked around the place again. It was...it was beautiful...

_ ‘I can never leave this.’ _ I admitted, stroking her console. _ ‘I can never run away from this life.’ _

“Hello Idris.” I greeted. “It’s good to finally meet you.”

There was a loud humming, that I guessed was her agreeing with me. Then a stranger presence filled my mind. It was warm, and I had the strangest sensation. It felt like she was singing to me. It felt like getting hugged by Mom after a nightmare.

I ran my hand over the console, looking at all the levers and switches. My inner fangirl was starting to come out, and I was almost squealing. She let out a loud whirl. “This is wonderful.” I cheered. The Doctor was flicking switches about. “She’s wonderful.” There was another loud whirl. “Eek!”

“Please tell me I didn’t look like that.” Oswin commented.

The Doctor pulled a lever. “Wasn’t really paying attention. We were a bit busy then.”

I wrapped my arms around myself, looking up at the rotor. My back hit the rails, and I leaned back onto them. “She feels like home.”

“She is.” The Doctor said, starting to smile. “That was what you said when she first made this console.”

I smiled fondly. That would be nice, I guess. I reached for the book I had put in my bag, finding writing on the first page that Four had been trying to hide.

_ Reichenbach Falls _

I blinked. A horrible realization came to me. “Wait. Did we just leave Future Me in 2013?”

“Yes.” The Doctor said, flipping another switch.

“At that destroyed warehouse?”

“Yes.” The Doctor said. The sound of the TARDIS came and went, telling me we had landed.

“Where we are not completely sure that Logan was inside when it blew up?” I asked, hoping that gave him the message.

The Doctor was about to answer, when he realized I was right. He looked a little, no, a lot terrified actually.

“Terra!” The Doctor screamed, as if she could hear it.

He ran up to me, shoving me out of the TARDIS.

“Stay alive! Don’t break any laws! And, most importantly, do not do anything I would do!”

The doors closed. That wheezing noise started, and soon the TARDIS vanished.

Time to get to work.


	2. First Day Dilemas

It had been a few hours since Eleven and Oswin had dropped me off, running after my future self. That mattered little to me at this point, because I was nose deep in the journal my future self had given me. It was mostly just a bio, from the look of it. A picture of my first self was taped to the page after  _ Reichenbach,  _ which I thought was alright.

Terra One looked a bit mousy. Her hair was a light ash brown, falling down in waves to her mid back. She was dressed in a light green blouse, white undershirt, and tan cargo pants. It was a good style, made her seem more down to earth. She didn’t have earring holes, so that was one less thing to worry about.

Attached to her waist was a pocket watch, a gold one too. I could probably find it in my bag.

There were other photos. Some group shots, of Terra One with her family. My future self had put labels on the photos.

_ ‘Thelma Luna. Mom. Human. Deceased.’  _ I frowned at that tidbit. She had long ash brown hair, though it was held back by a headband. She had deep brown eyes, almost the same shade as her hair. She wore a black t-shirt, black skinny jeans, teal blue shoes, and an artist smock covered in paint. She was wearing the same necklace Terra One was wearing.

The woman beside her was standing very close,  _ relationship _ close. Her hair was cut into a pixie cut, water blue eyes, a pale blue shirt, and Mom Jeans.  _ ‘Leanna Johnson. Mum. Human. Deceased.’ _

That made me Terra Luna-Johnson. Ew. No. Too long winded. Terra Luna sounds too 70’s, so I’ll just go with Johnson. Terra Johnson, good name.

The last woman had to be related to the blonde.  _ ‘Aunt Chloe Johnson. Human. Deceased.’ _ She had blonde hair, water blue eyes, and was dressed in a gray pantsuit.

No siblings, no cousins, my uncles, maybe some grandparents. Wow, this family was interesting. I love it. You’re probably wondering why I’m focusing on them, going into great detail this seemingly normal family. Because on the next page there was something completely gruesome.

Their murders.

Three women in their late thirties to early forties, all torn apart in their house. Leanna was murdered at the door, Thelma in their living room, and Chloe died protecting Thelma.

Leanna was shot first, probably just to get her out of the way. The unsub didn’t care about her, she was just a means to an end. Plus, it created fear in the other two victims. Chloe was a sort of target, a warning shot fired in her left leg to wound her but not kill. The kill shot was to her face, the man hated her. It was personal with her. Thelma’s murder had been getting rid of a witness, simple but painful shot to the heart.

The real awful part was that they weren’t photographed where they died. Their bodies were posed. Leanna and Chloe were posed at the dinner table, heads laying down as if they fell asleep before they could eat. Thelma was draped over the counter as if cooking a meal.

This could have been the killers way of saying he hated same sex marriage, keeping the married couple apart, but his quick killing of them didn’t look like a hatred of that. They were executions, as if he wanted something they were protecting. That was why Chloe got it worse, because she had been protecting Thelma.

They were killed because they took care of me. They died because they became my family, and the sick bastard moved their bodies as if they were dolls to play with!

It was Logan. He was the only lead I had, the only person I knew who would want to kill me this badly. Torchwood may have had some part of it, but if Jack caught wind of it he would have protected them. The Silence may have eliminated them, but they wouldn’t have made a show of it. They weren’t the type to leave a body, if it was done then it was done. Logan was the guy behind it. The moving of the body suggests a sense of pride, he was arrogant as he move them. Logan knew he had all the time he needed, so he had a little fun.

This family died because they were involved with me.

_ ‘If you hadn’t come here, would those people still be alive?’ _ Matron Joan’s words came to me.

Turning the page in the journal, I forced away the thought of the slaughter. There were years and years to deal with that, I had to deal with the now.

The journal went on to explain the guidelines for the next few weeks, until the Doctor found out I was a Time Lord. It was similar to my own story of being the only Jumper. Sad stuff, sad stuff.

I had been bullied as a child. My classmates would call me names, make me cry, and caused some deep trust issues. Words like freak and weirdo were tossed around, mostly in my face. I was the new kid stereotype (seriously. It was so bad even  _ other _ new kids made fun of me). Once, I was pushed down the stairs. Those hurt a lot more in the real world than in the cartoons.

The journal went on to explain the personalities of my human family. Let’s see how shortly I can describe them. Thelma was an artist, like my aunt back Home. Leanna was an elementary school teacher, like my mother back Home. Aunt Chloe was a fangirl, who enjoyed Star Trek and Star Wars and pretty much every other sci-if thing you can think of. Oh, and Harry Potter.

There was one subject that made me slam the journal shut, and throw it across my motel room in horror.

Back in my nineties, I had a horror movie phase. It had been fun for a bit, laughing at all of the stupid teenagers for being stupid teenagers. Then, I went a little on the extreme side. It had been a dark time for me, and I needed to do something good for someone.

_ 30 Days of Night _ . Thirty days of no stop vampires, waiting to feed on the townspeople. It’s not a time I like thinking about.

And that stupid book just told me to tell the Doctor about it.

What the  _ fuck _ Future Me?!

Okay. Time to distract. What’s the perfect way to distract a freshly regenerated Time Lady?

Shopping!

 

==CON==

 

London had a lot of interesting shops, but I had interest in one. Henrick’s department store. It was an easy enough find, a quick search on google maps.

I walked into the store, holding my bag close to my body. I was on edge for some reason, and I did not like it.

There she was. Rose Marion Tyler.

Even though I’ve been doing this job a long time, in the first few seconds I get a little star struck. That feeling you get of pure rush, like seeing an old friend, though it fades when they look you in the eyes and have no idea who you are.

Rose Tyler.  _ Rose Tyler! _ She looked young, and completely bored. This was Rose Tyler, the Bad Wolf, Defender of the Earth, the Doctor’s unspoken girlfriend. Jackie’s daughter! This is a girl who made a Dalek nice! Rose Tyler made a dimension cannon to help the Doctor defeat the Daleks and their Reality Bomb!

And...she was working in a shop.

_ ‘Not every superhero has a cool backstory.’ _ Smirking, I walked up to the blonde shopgirl. I tapped her shoulder.

She looked up at me. Rose Tyler was looking at me!

“I need a new wardrobe.” I said, trying to fight off my urge to scream like a little girl. I was a professional. I would behave as such...until I was alone. I pulled out a debit card. “I got mom’s card, and an entire afternoon free.”

Rose grinned, her tongue on tooth smile. It was a mischievous smile, same for the glint in her brown eyes. Get yourself together, Johnson! You’re on a case! “Ah, I remember those days.” She guided me over towards some of the teen clothing.

Dear Story, there was a lot of pink. 

I turned to Rose, as if questioning her directions. “I would not be caught dead in pink.” My tone was flat, almost condescending. “Got anything dark purple?”

Rose thought about it. She looked me over, seemingly thinking about me in purple. “Yeah. I think purple would look great on you, and we got some right over here.”

Right beside the wall of pink, there were darker colors. Dark reds, blues, greens, blacks, and _ Thank the Story  _ there was purple! I ran up to the wall, practically bursting at my luck.

I turned to Rose, smirking with a mischievous grin. “Let’s get shopping.”

 

==CON==

 

The first outfit I walked out in was a dark purple tank top, dark blue camisole, and black jeans.

Rose flinched at it.

I nodded in agreement. “Next.”

 

==CON==

 

A pair of cut up jeans, purple top, and a blue hoodie. It wasn’t as bad as the first, but still off.

“Alright. Be honest with me.” I said, looking in the mirror. 

Rose shook her head, walking up to me and helping me take off the hoodie.  “Blue’s just not your color.”

I nodded. “Nope.” I shrugged off the jacket. “Take three!”

 

==CON==

 

Black. We went mostly all black, with just a purple tank top as any other source of color.

Rose and I stared at my reflection.

“No.”

“Definitely not.”

“It looks-”

“Terrifying, I concur. I would burn it with fire but that means having to buy it.”

“Take four?”

“You catch on quick.”

 

==CON==

 

This last outfit was perfect.

A black tank top, with blue jeans, and a purple hoodie. Four is a lucky number of mine. I looked good, and Rose agreed.

I made the purchase, buying three more of each new item of clothing. The next few stores I bought more of what I liked. I bought arm guards, a cheap purple watch from CVS, and a bunch of black headbands. The last store got me a pair of purple loafers, as well as a bajillion pairs of socks.

All in all, I felt awesome.

Once my clothes were settled, and I wasn’t wearing that annoying shade of green, I set to getting some food.

Burgers, now those were a plus. I was obsessed with greasy food now, apparently. Fruit was a mixed thing, I hated pears (I think that’s just a Time Lord thing) but loved peaches. I tried fish and chips, that gravy they added in is  _ magical _ .

Some of my original self stayed. I still liked adventures, that rush of stopping a bad guy’s evil plans. I was still good at tinkering, in at least building things relieves stress. I love cop shows, but all the ones I like don’t come out until September. My favorite band doesn’t even come out for another year! That’s a real downer.

So, I felt completely sure of myself. Terra Two had herself figured out. Liked purple hoodies, arm guards, headbands, burgers, and peaches. What else was there to know?

My past. Right. That.

I was back in my motel room, lying out on my bed. The room was musty, maid service must suck in here. My new outfit helped against the February cold, which was worse in London. Scattered around the bed were various clocks I had taken apart.

“I don’t need to think about First Day.” I spoke into the quiet room. There was no response, though I don’t know if I was expecting one.

Letting out a sigh, I picked up a clock that I hadn’t taken apart yet. With a quick jerk, the clock split apart. This was yet another add on to Time Lord biology, I was strong.

“It was just a normal day, like all my other ones.” I said to no one. Pulling the wires out, I grabbed one of the other half clock’s parts. “Nothing needs to be talked about.”

_ ‘You died today.’ _ A dark voice in my head reminded me...one sounding awfully familiar.

I winced, shaking the voice away. My hands worked to distract me, trying to continue building a new device. “No I didn’t. If I died, how am I still here?”

_ ‘You regenerated today. A thing Time Ladies are  _ generally _ known for.’  _ The voice reminded.

I shook it off again. “First day was totally fine. I need to get ready for the first episode, or else I’m screwed.”

_ ‘You need to  _ run _.’  _ The voice reminded.

“I did. I ran all the way to 2005.” I argued, pushing gears into my new device.

_ ‘Time travel show. Do you really think he didn’t follow you here?’ _ The voice pointed out.

I paused. Shit, I hadn’t thought of that. But could he though? It could be possible, lots of the bad guys here have access to time travel. What if Logan found a manipulator, or something, and followed me to 2005? Is it a big leap to assume so? How would I know if he was here? I didn’t know anything about Logan.

_ ‘Liar.’ _ The voice chirped.

“I know he’s a maniac.” I said. My hand started gripping tightly onto the device I was building. “I know he’s stalking me. I’m probably the only person he sees as a challenge, like how Moriarty saw Sherlock.”

My eyes darted to the journal, remembering the brutal images of the Johnson family murders. “Sadistic. He enjoyed moving them, enjoyed the fear he put in them. The fear he’s putting in me.” I curled my legs under me, almost kneeling on the bed. “He’s a narcissist, based off his bragging with the telepathy. He was talking to two different version of myself, and he sounded perfectly calm.”

I shuddered as the words echoed in my mind, the ones he spoke.  _ ‘I want you to be afraid of me, so that I can do what I want with you.’ _ There was a phantom feeling of the harsh feeling of his mind forcing itself into my own. It all just felt too real, too personal.

It didn’t matter now. I was only getting paranoid. Logan isn’t my biggest issue right now. The Ninth Doctor is. Mister Big Eared and Leathery. I need to work out how to explain my past, help him in the present, and stay with him for the future, all in a month. As soon as I get the chance, I can worry about Logan.

I have three whole lifetimes to deal with him. Logan can wait.

_ ‘Liar’ _


	3. Rose and Terra

The sun had set, and I was ready.

The month had gone by slowly, almost like my first month of college. I had all of my gear together for my travels, and I was so proud. Stuffed into my bag at the ready was; food and water in case of emergency, extra blankets, a new lantern, my wallet, my phone, my portable phone charger, my HP, laptop charger, spare clothes, and my bow staff.

You’re probably wondering how I can carry all of that in my bag and not keel over. My bag is actually an Infinity Bag, given to me by a the grandmother from  _ Halloweentown _ . It looked a lot like a normal tan messenger bag, but it was bigger on the inside. Okay, I use the term normal loosely. On the flap I had put a large number of buttons on it, each representing a place I jumped to.

It was awesome. Most of the buttons had the show’s funniest quote, or most iconic thing.  _ Psych _ had a white logo for the show over a green pineapple silhouette,  _ Criminal Minds _ had TEAM REID in block red letters, and there were too many Disney movies to mention. I loved it, and I took it with me everywhere.

The bag had been slung over my shoulder. It was there so much it had almost become a part of my body. Maybe I had become used to the weight, or maybe it was the magic keeping it that way, but it felt light.

I stood in front of Henricks Department Store, surveying the building as various people left the store for the night. By the doors, I saw a security guard give Rose a plastic bag. I almost nodded as the show went on as normal. It gave me time to set up to the bomb.

Most people think that when you break into a building, you have to walk in the front door and avoid alarms. That’s just one way of doing it, and I liked a little variety in my break-ins.

I walked up to the side of the building, hidden by the dark of night and the deep alleway. There was a firescape on the side, I noticed in on my visit here. It was low tech, and simple. Perfect, as I did not want to waste time hacking into the mainframe to disable the alarms. That might leave a footprint for the police to follow, and that required a second person so that they could maintain the alarm system. My job needed complete focus, and not walking around with an HP.

The firescape was easy enough to climb. I was on the roof before I knew it. There was a relay signal stuck to the roof, with tech way too complex for humans. I smirked, shaking my head at the aliens. They definitely had plastic for brains.

I ran to the side, pulling my make-shift bomb from my bag. It should be easy to hook up, maybe some difficulty. I had made multiple test versions of this bomb, each one worked as planned, but I had lived in enough cartoons to know that it could go wrong at any moment.

Meaning, I had to work fast.

The whole setup took maybe three minutes, sticking the various wires and things to the strange alien tech.

I stuck the last of the explosives, and got ready to set the timer to blow. This was why I used a lot of clocks, they made for the best timers.

The door nearby burst open, revealing the Ninth Doctor. I turned to him, seeing him for the first time in real life.

He was tall, maybe half a foot taller than me. I was 5’7, so that made him about 6 feet. He had cropped brown hair on his head, making his ears stick out. His nose was no better. He had bright blue eyes. You could see the age in them, all nine hundred years.

He was wearing the maroon shirt, I liked that one more than the green one. The leather jacket was a bit tattered though only by a few years, the same for his baggy jeans and black boots.

Ninth had to be my second favorite Doctor. Come on, how do you hate a guy with ears like Dumbo?

“What are you doing here?” He asked me, sounding a bit angry.  That shook me out of my fan girl moment. “You need to get out!” He pointed out the door.

I gaped at him, acting angry and insulted. “Are you  _ nuts _ ? Look, buddy, you don’t know what’s going on here.”

The alien rolled his eyes. “Oh great, an American.”

“Hey, listen Dumbo!” Stressed equals insults. “I’m not kidding! They are a bunch of living plastic dolls in the basement.” He gave me an astonished look. “I know. Living plastic, plastic that is alive, not a creative name. It was the best I could come up with at the time.” I shrugged, going back to fiddling with the wires on my bomb. “I’ve dealt with these guys before. They don’t go down easy. Took me three hours to kill them last time.” I paused. “I should apologize to that girl later, really messed up her life.” I shook off the concern, going back to the bomb.

“You know what those are?” The Doctor asked, coming up towards me. He had seemed to notice my bomb. “What’s that?”

“Course I know what those things are. Rule Four is that I know everything. Be scared if I say I don’t.” I gestured to the machine. “And this is a bomb. It’ll blow these suckers sky high. Only way I know to kill them.” I looked at him with reassurance, all apart of the Plan. “I know this looks weird, but once I finish this I will explain in greater detail.”

The Doctor took a step back. “But that’s not gonna work. Your’s will only make the building collapse, not actually kill them.”

“You got a better idea, idiot?” I snapped at him.

The Doctor held up his bomb. I looked at it, pretending to be surprised that he had his own bomb. “I’ve dealt with these things before too. This thing, once put on that relay.” He pointed over towards the antenna looking thing. “Will get rid of them.”

I tried to hide my smirk, giving him an almost nonchalant look. “Okay. Let’s get moving.” I tried reaching for it.

The alien pulled it out of my reach. Big baby. “No. You’re getting out of here.”

“In the time we spend arguing, they could be killing more people.” I stressed. The Doctor believed. “Give it to me so I can help you, you big eared idiot.”

The Doctor looked indecisive for another split second, then jumped into action. He put his bomb with mine, pressing it against the relay.

“Okay.” I turned to my bag, sorting through to find the pliers. “I can spare some of the wires from mine-”

Then, I heard a faint buzzing. Looking over, I saw a small blue light coming from the Doctor’s hand. The screwdriver, the blue screwdriver. He’s using it on my bomb! That’s really cool.

“Or that.” I muttered, seeing the two bombs connected to the relay. “Anyone else in the building?” I asked him. 

The Doctor just shrugged, using his screwdriver to help the process. “Cleared out just a moment ago.”

“You’ve done this before. That’s good. Saves me time training you.” I smirked at the offended look he gave me. I moved back the arms on the timer. “I can give us one minute.”

The Doctor shrugged, still annoyed at my taint. “More than enough time.”

“You’re old, thought I’d be kind.” I teased him. The Doctor responded with a mature glare. I grabbed my bag, draping it over my arm. “Okay. Move in 3...2...1.”

The clock started ticking.

The Doctor and I made our way to the fire escape, me sliding down most of the stair rails while he was much more careful in his escape. I smirked as I made it to the ground before he did.

Once he came down, we ran.

*BOOM*

 

==CON==

 

The Doctor and I stopped running close to his TARDIS. I leaned back against the brick wall, starting to laugh once I realized we had just blown up a building. Rose Tyler’s old shop. The place I bought most of this outfit, and the one I had stuffed in my hotel room.

“That was awesome.” I chuckled. My hand took my headband off, working to get it all back in place so I looked presentable again. “Sometimes, I admit, I actually like when those guys come up. Gives me an excuse to blow things up.”

The Doctor paused, standing up straighter. He had seemed a bit laid back as we were running away from the building. I made sure to keep up that trick Eleven had taught me. The Archangel network wouldn’t exist for another eight or so months, so I would have to work hard to maintain this human appearance. It just had to be until it felt right, the point where it was safest to reveal this.

Or, you know, when someone made me reveal it. I had come up with a convincing lie to tell then. I thought I was the only one. How could you just casually ask if someone had two hearts, or would change everything about themselves when they died? Those seemed like good excuses.

The Doctor still seemed on edge around me. That was nice. The moments of distrust between two parties before the friendship came. I think that’s my favorite feeling, knowing that the good stuff has just begun.

“So, you’ve dealt with living plastic before?” The Doctor brought it up again.

I paused, as if trying how to calmly explain it to him. Then, I decided to screw it. He was gonna blow up that place to. “It’s actually called living plastic? Dammit! I thought I came up with a cool name for something for once!”

“Yeah, it’s actually called living plastic.” The Doctor said, as if answering it only so he could get the bigger answers. “How did you know they were at that building?”

I gave him a deadpan look. “Seriously? Did you forget Rule Four already? You should write those down.”

The Doctor glared. The words of Eleven floated over my mind.  _ ‘Don’t play games with me, don’t ever think yourself capable of that.’  _ Was I the only one who thought that was a challenge? This was pretty dangerous what I was doing. The stuff he did makes me as inexperienced as Rose.

But, I just saw that sad look on his face. In the episode  _ Dalek _ , him talking about being the Last because of specie. It made me realize some stuff, like that maybe I was the last too. I was the only one. I had thought a long time ago that I wasn’t, but then reality kicked me down again. She was gone.

Sad thing was, this was my only way of getting her back. The Doctor and I were both alone, the Last of our kinds. His race was dead, by actions all his own. Mine probably never existed, so I was forced into a lifelong hell of solitude and abandonment.

I took a breath, thinking over my next answer carefully. “Back when I first fought them, I learned very quickly to notice when plastic was coming alive. A doll moved in front of the Henricks store window, so I got to work on making the bomb.”

The Doctor seemed to accept this answer. He was still curious, so he walked a bit closer towards me. “Did you know they were aliens?”

I blinked, trying to not be sarcastic. Of course I knew aliens existed. When I was seventeen, I adopted by Jumba Jookiba. Twenty-eight, I helped Kim fight those blue aliens. Thirty-two, Gonzo turned out to be an alien. Thirty-eight, Zenon and I saved an alien race.

Okay. You get it. I’ve met aliens before.

“Are you so ignorant as to not believe in aliens?” I shot back.

The Doctor liked being the smartest person in the room. He liked seeing the light in the eyes of his companions, as he showed them the planets and universes they only dreamt of.

Back when I first met Darcy, I wanted to do just that. I took her Home with me, and promised to show her everything. She was six, and believed I would. That little girl, all she had to do was ask and I would do it. She was my sister, something I had desperately needed after  _ Her _ .

Having a friend like that, one who thought I was a hero, made me want to be one for her. That was what the Doctor did. What his companions did. We made him feel like a hero, even though he thought the very least of himself.

I just had this really sad thought. Knowing him, I bet surviving the Time War was an accident.

The Doctor was curious about my answer, almost a bit relieved and on edge. “How did you meet the living plastic?”

“They tried to kill my friend.” I snapped before I could stop it. My eyes snapped to his, glaring at him.

Most of you are probably laughing.  _ ‘Oh? You want to kill them because of what they did to Rose? How cute.’  _ Wrong. Darcy and I went to a sleepover our first day together. Andy Barclay’s house. A serial killer brought a doll to life, using it to kill our babysitter.

The next day, he blew up a house. Darcy was outside. Hours later, she was in a mental institution. I broke her out, probably seconds before Chucky came in. Darcy had been so scared, just a six year old girl. Her childhood was ripped away from her that day. She spent five years in the foster system with me. Chucky ruined her life, but at the same time gave her one with me.

That doll. He was my first horror movie, and he hurt my sister.

I calmed myself down, looking back down to my flats. “I’m just really good at holding a grudge.”

“What’s an American doing in London, anyway?” The Doctor reminded me of my accent.

I huffed. “Mom’s. What are you gonna do?” That felt like the right answer. It had to be. There was nothing about a dad in my head. I had to have one, but Terra didn’t have any sort of father in her head.

“An American teenager that can build a bomb, and knows about aliens.” The Doctor listed anything and everything he knew about me. It was not a very long list.

“You forgot incredible gorgeous.” I smirked, letting out a small chuckle.

The Doctor nodded his head. “Ah. And arrogant, should have known.”

My first instinct was to scream at him. The only thing stopping me was the fact that he was only trying to make a fuss out of me. I wouldn’t play to that idea in his head of how all fifteen year olds act-

Fifteen?!

“Do I really look fifteen?” I muttered to myself, looking down at my outfit. “I was going for sixteen. Damn it.”

It might have helped if I used makeup. No mother I had ever had taught me to use makeup. The best I could do was lipstick and maybe some nail polish.

The Doctor became briefly distracted by a nearby honking horn. “What was your name again?”

Yet, I was already on my way back to my motel room.

 

==CON==

 

That next morning, I remembered a very important thing.

Rose still had the arm.

Now, I couldn’t just go to the Powell Estates and expect the Doctor to not be suspicious. So I got out my backup laptop (I nicknamed her Liberty) to begin searching.

All I had was the name Rose, she worked at Henriks, and that she was now jobless. I hacked into their database. I searched the name Rose, and got a hit in seconds. I looked deeper into her, and got the rest of her bio.

Rose Marion Tyler. Born August 27th, 1986 to Peter Tyler and Jackie Prentice. No siblings, father died when she was six months old. She was a good kid, only getting one speeding ticket. She got bronze in some gymnast meet, so that’s cool.

She dropped out of school at sixteen. She had some high geography scores, as well as some English. Science, and history were average. Math was normal enough, a bit above average. Rose was a smart enough girl.

Oh, gross. Now I felt all dirty. I had to keep at it though, so I wouldn’t get screwed over by Doc. I helped more when others were kept out of the loop. Then again, using Darcy at age twelve was not my best idea...

After dropping out, Rose was off the grid for about two years. After her eighteenth she showed up at Henrik’s for work. She’s been there ever since. Rose lived with her mother in Powell Estates. Her accounts show she has only a couple hundred, not nearly enough for her own place.

With this information, I searched for directions from her address to mine. They seemed easy enough. Twenty, maybe thirty minute taxi ride.

I packed away Liberty, storing her in my Infinity Bag. Anything else I needed was tucked away, so that when the maid came by at noon she would see nothing amiss.

I love my job.

Once I got to the Powell Estates, I immediately noticed the Time Lord scoping the place with his screwdriver.

Took him five seconds to notice me. That was only because we bumped into each other on the stairs.

“Oh great, you again.” The Doctor complained. “Are you following me?”

I rolled my eyes. “Yep. This is what I do in my free time. Stalk creepy old men.” I refused to look in his direction, so I just kept checking to see if we were getting closer to Rose’s place.

The Doctor paused in his steps. “What are you even doing here?”

“I saw the shopgirl walking away with a plastic arm.” I explained, still walking up the stairs. “So, I tracked her down.”

My pride refused to tell Doc how I did this. It was my system, not his. It felt weird enough, looking into Rose’s life like that. I didn’t need to tell him that. It was way less cooler than him using the screwdriver. He probably didn’t spend nearly half an hour looking stuff up about Rose.

The worst part was that I didn’t even need to. I could have just searched the Powell Estates for the Tylers. That couldn’t be how I did it. I had to actually have to have this stuff. If he found out I didn’t track Rose down, then there would be questions of how I knew her.

“Aren’t kids your age in school?” The Doctor asked.

I rolled my eyes. School. That was an experience I hated repeating. The last thing I wanted to go to a British one again. “Aren’t guys your age in a retirement home?”

The Doctor grunted in annoyance. We reached Rose’s floor soon after. I looked around at the numbers for her place. The Doctor used his screwdriver to scan around.

I smirked at that. “Okay. Why are you using that flashlight in broad daylight?” It felt like blasphemy, talking about the screwdriver in such a callous way. It was like talking down on Santa.

The Doctor checked the results, searching for the signal. “It’s a sonic screwdriver.”

“That explains that annoying buzzing.” I commented under my breath, finally seeing Rose’s apartment.

“It’s sonic. That means sound!” The Doctor said, in his ‘humans are idiots’ tone.

“Oh? Did you just realize that?” I teased, my voice condescending. He was way too easy. I wasn’t even trying! “Good for you!” I paused, leaning on a wall to laugh. His expression was hilarious!

The Doctor, in retaliation, just marched passed. He leaned down to the cat flap, scanning it with his screwdriver. He smacked it a few times. I winced. The way he was bent over practically shoved his butt in my direction. Gross.

The flap opened, and there was a startled squeak. He hopped up to his feet, waiting as the door opened. “What’re you doing here?” The Doctor asked her, sounding confused.

It was Rose. She was dressed in a loose gray t-shirt, and jeans. Her blonde hair was down, past her shoulders in a _ ‘I was gonna stay in all day’ _ fashion. I knew it well.“I live here.” Rose said, sounding as confused as he did.

“Well, what do you do that for?” The Doctor asked.

Oh, they were just too cute. I stood off to the side, shaking my head. How could they not end up together, the boneheads.

“Because I do.” Rose shot back. “I’m only at home because someone blew up my job.”

“Sorry. That was me.” I said, injecting myself into the conversation.

“Hold on. Who are you?” Rose asked, confused.

“Terra Johnson.” I answered, grinning. “You helped me buy these clothes.”

Her eyes twinkled in recognition. “I thought you were familiar.”

“Yeah. Sorry about blowing up your job.” I shrugged. “Had to get rid of aliens.”

Rose shook her head. She pointed at the Doctor. “No, it was him.”

I turned to him, angry. “You’re taking the credit?” I smacked his arm, hard. He started rubbing the spot.

“Oi, watch it!” The Doctor warned, though I found it laughable.

“Jerk!” Then, I got a peek at the inside of her apartment. “Hey, nice place.” My tone did a complete one eighty.

The Doctor’s screwdriver buzzed again. I rolled my eyes to keep up my annoyed act. “I must have got the wrong signal. You’re not plastic, are you?” I looked back, only to be graced with the sight of the Doctor knocking on Rose’s forehead. My jaw dropped and I almost laughed. “No, bonehead. Bye, then.”

Rose grabbed his leather and my hoodie. “You two. Inside. Right now.”

“Who is it?” A new voice called out. Jackie Tyler, the first mum to ever slap the Doctor. She started a trend.

After Rose shut the door, she leaned into her mother’s room. “It’s about last night. They’re part of the inquiry. Give us ten minutes.” She lied.

I walked up from the hallway, glancing into the messy room. Jackie looked no more ready fro the day than Rose. Her hair was at least brushed out and clean. She was wearing a pale pink satin robe. “She deserves compensation.” She informed the two of us.

The Doctor came up. He leaned on the same spot Rose did, I was beside him. “Oh, we’re talking millions.”

Ignoring him, I walked on into the rest of the apartment. My ears were tuned towards their conversation.

“I’m in my dressing gown.”

“Yes, you are.”

“There’s a strange man in my bedroom.”

“Yes, there is.”

“Well, anything could happen.”

“No.” Was the quick response. I snorted. Story, today gets better and better.

I started to scan the apartment, my profiler instincts kicking in. Simple enough place, as much as expected from a now on income household.

Rose finished tidying up. “Don’t mind the mess.” She told the Doctor and I. She rushed towards the kitchen. “Do you want a coffee?”

The Doctor shrugged. “Might as well, thanks. Just milk.”

I shook my head. “Don’t like coffee.”

Rose nodded, getting to work on his drink.

I walked around the living room, getting a feel of the Tyler’s. “Low income.” I mumbled, looking over the bookcase. Some photo frames were scattered about it. “One mom, one kid, no dad.” Next came the coffee table. The Doctor had taken the magazine. “Interesting reading options.”

It didn’t help that most of the books were trashy romances. Not even the good trashy romances. These were the kind with a girl draped over a guy’s bare chest, and mostly sexual titles.

“We should go to the police. Seriously. All of us.” Rose said from the kitchen.

“That won’t last.” The Doctor commented. “He’s gay and she’s an alien.”

I looked around his arm at the couple. “Oh, obviously.” No straight guy wears his hair like that, or has a tie go that goes that well with his eyes. I went back to my investigating.

The arm had to be around here somewhere. I know Mickey threw it out and that it comes back in at one point or another. Please tell me I didn’t have to wait.

“I’m not blaming you, even if it was just some sort of joke that went wrong.” Rose went on, thankfully ignoring us.

The Doctor picked up a book. He flipped through it. “Hmm. Sad ending.”

I gave a glance at the book.  _ The Lonely Bones _ . Read that in one of my many trips into high school. “Hmm. That author always has one.”

Rose hadn’t noticed we were ignoring her. “They said on the news they’d found a body.”

“Didn’t do it.” I automatically mumbled. What? In my house, if you didn’t say it you did it.

“Rose Tyler.” The Doctor read off the letter. Then, he caught sight of his reflection.

“It’s illegal to read other people’s mail.” I reminded, teasingly, picking up the letter myself. It was a bill.

The Doctor gave himself an appraising look. “Ah, could’ve been worse.” He flicked his earlobes. “Look at the ears.”

“Do your ears hang low, do they wobble to and fro?” I sang, seeing my own reflection. I had to say, I looked alright. Brown choppy hair, dark purple hoodie, blue jeans, and purple loafers. Pretty good outfit, if I say so myself.

The Doctor lightly shoved me. I swept my gaze over the apartment. It seemed calm, quiet, much like the Tyler’s current personalities. Jackie has some issues on abandonment. The romance novels are all her’s, from my estimate. She’s still clinging onto Pete, but enough so that she won’t say no to other guys hence the scene in the hallway.

Rose was different. She was responsible for the magazine, and the sad book. The magazine is normal for a nineteen year old, but the book shows some kind of intellect you wouldn’t really expect from a high-school dropout. She had tried to get out of this boring dullness if her record was anything to prove. She had come running home to her mother’s arms, back to the home she knew. Then we came in, and blew up her job, and Rose has another chance to run. 

I can see why the Doctor loved her.

“Luck be a lady.” The Doctor hummed.

Turning back, I saw him shuffle the deck of cards. “This outta be good.”

The Doctor tried to shuffle again. The cards flew everywhere, making me grin. “Oh, so close.” I mockingly pouted at him.

“Shut up. I’d like to see you do better.” The Doctor challenged.

“I can’t.  _ Somebody _ spilled all the cards.”

Rose’s voice suddenly burst into our conversation. “I want you to explain everything.”

The Doctor and I smirked at her. “Maybe not.”

The cat flap rattled. My head snapped towards her, some of my hair falling over my shoulder. I brushed it back, trying to find the arm. My hand went to my side, hoping to find my gun. I was momentarily concerned to find it wasn’t there.  _ ‘Not a cop this time. Right.’ _

“What’s that, then?” The Doctor asked Rose. I kept trying to find the arm. The Doctor walked over towards one of their couches. “You got a cat?”

“No.” Rose answered.

“Course not.  _ That _ would make sense.” I mumbled.

Then, I heard him gasp in pain. The arm had gripped itself onto his throat.

“Woah!” I went towards the arm, trying to pull it off his neck. 

The Doctor kept choking. His respiratory bypass should be kicking in soon, but then again I have very little info on Time Lord Biology. I could faintly hear Rose talking in the kitchen, still pouring coffee. The Doctor pulled hard on the arm, which ended up pushing both of us into one of the chairs. 

Rose walked into the living room, barely even blinking at the scene. I looked at her pleadingly. “Can you give us a hand?” I said, barely noticing the pun.

“I told Mickey to chuck that out.” Rose sighed, putting the cups down. I rolled my eyes, still pulling on the plastic arm. “You’re all the same. Give a man a plastic hand. Anyway, I don’t even know your names. Doctor, what was it?”

The Doctor finally ripped off the arm. I flopped back onto the couch, watching in almost shock as the arm froze in midair. It flew onto Rose’s face. That made me smirk, seeing her realize it was an actual arm. I was the first to my feet, the Doctor following behind. The two of us pulled at the arm. For plastic it was incredibly strong. The thing wouldn’t budge!

The Doctor tugged too hard, sending us all to the ground. I fell onto the ground, while the two of them broke the coffee table.

“Ah darn. That coffee I wasn’t gonna drink.” I grumbled.

Rose jumped up onto the couch, still pulling on the arm. I went to her side, trying to help her pull it off. The Doctor sat up, pulling the screwdriver out from his inside pocket. I managed to get the arm off of Rose’s face, holding it out towards the Doctor. He used the sonic, turning off the damn arm. I flopped onto the couch, letting out a relieved sigh.

Man, I loved my job.

“It’s alright, I’ve stopped it.” The Doctor assured us. Rose was fidgeting on the bed, while I was glaring at it. To help, he threw the arm at her. “There you go, you see? Armless.”

I laughed at the pun, and the startled look on her face. “Do you think?” Rose took advantage of her new weapon. 

“Ow!”

“Next time, don’t give the arm to the angry blonde!” I snarked.

 

==CON==

 

With the arm disabled, the Doctor and I left the Powell Estate. Or, at least we tried to.

“Hold on a minute. You two can’t just go swanning off.” Rose complained as I ran down the stairs. It was exhilarating, leaping down multiple stairs and sliding down stair rails.

“Yes I can. Here I am. This is me, swanning off.  _ See you _ .” The Doctor smiled cheekily at the girl.

Rose was right behind him. Wow, he was slow in that body wasn’t he? “But that arm was moving. It tried to  _ kill _ me.”

“Ten out of ten for observation.”

“You’re changing that dumb blonde stereotype.” I remarked dryly. My feet leapt down another block of stairs. “I’m so proud.”

“You can’t just walk away, or leap like she’s doin’.” Rose argued. I snickered a bit, still leaping down the stairs. I was so gonna beat them to the bottom. “That’s not fair. You’ve got to tell me what’s going on.”

“No, I don’t.” The Doctor said.

“Goodbye.” I said, running to the door.

Seriously, why are they so slow? I wasn’t moving inhumanly fast, I knew that. Maybe the second increased my speed, as well as the part where I look like I am in the body of a teenager. 

My thoughts were broken by Rose’s brave statement. “Alright, then. I’ll go to the police.”

I snorted, going back to my walking. One hand gripping my bag, the other stuffed into my hoodie pocket. My feet turned me around, letting me walk backwards. I was no Tow Mater, but I was pretty good at this.

Plus, Mater cheats. He has mirrors. He might as well be driving forward. I know, I’ve met him.

“I’ll tell everyone. You said, if I did that, I’d get people killed. So, your choice.” Rose dared. “Tell me, or I’ll start talking.”

I snorted again, this time louder which earned a glare from the brown eyed girl. The Doctor seemed just as amused. “Is that supposed to sound tough?” He asked.

“Sort of.” Rose said, proudly.

The Doctor shook his head at her, curtly. “Doesn’t work.”

“Though you came really close.” I poured at her, unable to fight the grin on my face.

Rose stared at me, almost shaking her head. “Who are you?”

“Terra Johnson. That’s all you need to know.” I stated, plainly. My feet pushed me up, twirling me front wards. What was the best way back to my motel from here?

“And who’re you?” The girl turned to the Doctor.

“Told you. The Doctor.” He answered curtly. 

Rose scoffed. “Yeah, but Doctor what?” Ah, I love when they don’t do the thing.

“Just the Doctor.”

“The Doctor.”

“Hello!”

Oh, they are  _ too cute _ .

Rose laughed, brushing some of the hair that has blown into her face as we were walking. “Is that supposed to sound impressive?” She teased.

The Doctor smiled. “Sort of.”

“Doesn’t work.” I joked, copying his grin. The Doctor only sent that smile at me. 

“Come on, then.” Rose stood between the Doctor and I. Her voice lowered to a conspiratorial whisper. “You can tell me. I’ve seen enough. Are you the police?”

“No, I was just passing through. I’m a long way from home.” The Doctor answered.

Funny thing, I’m still a police officer in five different realities. In one I’m in the FBI. I’m good at my job. “The police  _ wish _ they had me.” I said.

“But what have I done wrong? How comes those plastic things keep coming after me?” Rose asked us.

“Oh, suddenly the entire world revolves around you.” The Doctor mocked, still trying to go on his merry way. I was just looking for a bus stop. Quick ride in that, then I could've in walking distance of my room. “You were just an accident. You got in the way, that’s all.”

“It tried to kill me.” Rose reminded.

“Correction. It tried killing the Doctor.” I stated, matter of factly. “You were the one that brought it home, probably after running into this idiot.”

“Oi!”

“Based on your reactions, I would say that you’re  _ new _ .” I went on, ignoring the Doctor’s input. “So you walked in on something you shouldn’t have, and they had to get rid of you. Basic logic.”

“She’s not wrong.” The Doctor said. “Last night, in the shop, I was there, you blundered in, almost ruined the whole thing.” He held up the arm. “This morning, I was tracking  _ it _ down, it was tracking  _ me _ down. The only reason it fixed on you is ‘cos you’ve met me.”

“So what you’re saying is, the entire world revolves around you.” Rose mocked his earlier statement.

“Sort of, yeah.”

“You’re full of it.”

“Sort of, yeah.”

Dear Story, how did they not end up together?

“But, all this plastic stuff.” Rose asked. “Who else knows about it?”

“No one.” The Time Lord said curtly.

“Just us three.” I said.

“So, it’s just the two of you?” Rose asked.

“Never met her before today.” The Doctor said, giving me a look.

“He’s the one who  _ blundered in  _ on  _ my _ job.” I glared a bit at him.

Rose looked at the Doctor and I sadly. “What, you’re both on your own?”

“Who else is there?” I countered. That was the basis of my reason here. No one else could help these people, only me. Who was gonna help them if not me?

The Doctor glanced at me. It occurred at that moment I took a bit of his line. Oh well. “I mean, you lot, all you do is eat chips, go to bed, and watch telly, while all the time, underneath you, there’s a war going on.”

Rose grabbed the arm from the Doctor. He looked at her, about to ask for it back. “Okay. Start from the beginning. I mean, if we’re going to go with the living plastic, and I don’t even believe that-”

“Hey! I’m the one who came up with that name, so don’t go bad mouthing it.” I warned, lightly.

Rose snorted. “Alright. If we do, how did you kill it?”

“I suggest blowing them up.” I advised. 

“The thing controlling it projects life into the arm.” The Doctor said, his voice rising a bit higher than mine as if to talk over me. “I cut off the signal, dead.”

“So that’s radio control?” Rose tried.

“Thought control.” The Doctor answered.

I looked her in the eyes, trying to get her attention. “Are you alright? Are we going too fast?”

“Yeah, I’m alright.” Rose shrugged it off. Back to the Doctor. “So, who’s controlling it, then?”

“Long story.” The Doctor said.

“But what’s it all  _ for _ ?” She was smart, I’ll give her that. I mean, it was a basic human want, to know why your life was in danger. “I mean, shop window dummies, what’s that about? Is someone trying to take over Britain’s shops?” She joked.

The Doctor and I chuckled. Oh, if only it were that simple.  _ But if the whole world worked like that, I’d be unemployed.  _ “No.”

The three of us kept laughing.

“It’s not a price war.” The Doctor said, through laughs.

“They want to kill you, and every other human on this planet.” My statement stopped Rose’s laughter.

She looked at us like we had two heads each. “Do you believe us?” The Doctor asked.

“No.” Rose said quickly.

“But you’re still listening.” He pointed out.

“Really, though, Doctor, Terra. Tell me, who are you?” Rose asked.

“I’m a girl, passing through. Maybe saving a live or two.” I rhymed. Damn me, clever without even trying. “That’s all you  _ want _ to know.”

_ ‘If you hadn’t come here, would those people still be alive?’ _ Matron Joan’s words came back.

Damn that trashy wannabe. She was an angry bitter woman who wanted someone she couldn’t have, and then spat at the man he became. I can’t wait to see her so I can punch her in the face.

There was a strange hum in my mind, like an almost gentle scold, so sudden I almost faltered in my steps. Looking up, I saw the TARDIS parked a couple yards behind the Doctor. She apparently didn’t like the Matron either, and didn’t like my anger towards her.

I teasingly glared at the box.  _ ‘She was mean, cold. She was angry because John was a figment of the Doctor’s mind. So what John wasn’t real, neither are the people on my TV screen. He made himself real because he believed it, just like I believe in the Doctor and I.’ _

Another hum, this time of amusement. Four was right, she is kinda like a sister. She enjoyed riling me up. Oh, I was gonna have fun with her.

Rose looked to the Doctor. The Time Lord paused a moment before answering her. “Do you know like we were saying about the Earth revolving?” He started. Rose blankly stared, but I was frowning at having Matron in my thoughts again.

He walked closer to us. “It’s like when you were a kid. The first time they tell you the world’s turning and you just can’t quite believe it because everything looks like it’s standing still.”

That’s just it though, nothing is standing still. Trees are swaying in breezes, animals are a scurrying about, water is coming in waves and storms. Clouds are floating over our heads, as well as birds and butterflies. Human beings themselves don’t stand still, moving around all the time, constantly growing and changing.

At least, that’s what I think.  _ Not even stone stays still for long. _

It was a strange feeling, the first time I felt the earth move through space. It was...well, like the Doctor’s described it.

“I can feel it. The turn of the Earth.” The Doctor held Rose’s hand, staring off into the distance intently. “The ground beneath our feet is spinning at a thousand miles an hour, and the entire planet is hurtling round the sun at sixty seven thousand miles an hour, and I can feel it. We’re falling through space, you, Terra and me, clinging to the skin of this tiny little world, and if we let go.”

The Doctor let go of her hand. I smiled, thinking it would be the last time he did it without romantic intentions and a frown on his face.

“That’s who I am.” The Doctor said, simpl. “Now, forget me, Rose Tyler.” He yanked the armpit of her shocked hand, his face stone. “Go home.”

He went swanning off, and I did too. From a distance, I could see a street sign.

Oh great. The bus stop is two blocks away!  _ ‘There goes what could have been a relaxing afternoon.’ _

The TARDIS hummed in my mind again, amused. I turned back just in time to hear her engines running. My eyes stayed there until the noise stopped.

 

==CON==

 

Rose knocked on the man’s door, feeling a bit impatient. She had done her research on the Doctor and Terra using Mickey’s laptop. She was going to meet Clive this afternoon, after she met the expert on Terra. He lived in Powell Estates, so it only made sense to visit him first. Mickey had said the man might be some kind of homicidal maniac, but Rose refused to believe that. Why would a maniac live in the Estates?

A man answered the door, smiling at Rose. It was a normal enough smile, but it set of some alarm bells in the back of her mind. He had tan skin, almost golden blonde hair, teeth that were a bit too white, and eyes so dark brown they were nearly black. He looked rather handsome, almost like a would-be movie star. He was dressed in a loose black t-shirt, clean jeans, and men’s loafers.

He was a simple looking guy, but that smile.  _ ‘Maybe Mickey was right.’ _

“Hello.” The man said. His voice was smooth, with an American accent like Terra had. It made Rose’s mind go blank. “Rose?”

The girl just blinked. He wasn’t what she expected from an Internet conspiracy nutter. “Uh.”

He laughed. “Come on in. I think we have some things to discuss.”

Rose nodded, after a brief bit of sputtering.

The apartment was similar in outline as her’s, although the colors were a bit more suited towards a man who had been living there for five months. Light gray walls, shag carpet, a brown fold over couch, and simple furniture.

He had his computer by a window, open to a page with Terra. It was her, alright. Choppy brown hair in a black headband, purple hoodie, and that tan messenger bag.

“That’s her in Manhattan, just before they finished construction on the Empire State Building.” The man explained. Rose gaped.

“That was years ago, decades.” She said.

The man nodded, grabbing a photo from his coffee table. Rose noticed dozens of other photos, some were paintings though. She could make out Terra in a few of them.

“And here she is in 1913, at the Farrington school.” It was the same girl, only she wasn’t wearing the bag or the hoodie. She was wearing a simple navy blue dress, and her hair wasn’t in the headband. It was her though. “This was taken not long before the town was attacked. Whole place in ashes in a single night.”

Rose gasped. “My god.”

Another photo. “This is a drawing of her with Charles Dickens, another of her with William Shakespeare, one of her following Queen Victoria’s carriage.” He held up one, chuckling. “This is a drawing of her with Madame de Pompadour.”

“So, she’s got a long history.” Rose shrugged it off. “A mother, grandmother-”

“She’s wearing a hoodie over half the times she’s been seen. She’s from  _ this time. _ ” Garfield stressed, throwing the photos on the coffee table.

Rose was feeling a bit on edge. Something about this man wasn’t right. It wasn’t just the obsession over Terra, it seemed  _ bigger  _ than that.

“What’s surprising isn’t the pictures, it’s the legends.” Garfield Logan said, sounding a bit too excited about all this. “Every place she went, even if it was just for a single night, people were murdered. She travels across all of time and space, bringing destruction in her wake. Even the survivors aren’t really survivors, they’re killed on the inside. Hence the nickname used in association with Terra.”

“Nickname?”

“Death.” Garfield stated. “She’s called Death.”

Rose ran out of the apartment, not looking back.

 

==CON==

 

The motel room had been a nice place, but all in all not a proper home.

Once my Infinity Bag was packed with my clothes, I went up to the motel room door. This part of my life was done. It was time to start running again.

I held the journal in my hand, thinking over what my fourth self had said for my behavior. I wasn’t really supposed to say anything about what I was, or who I was. The whole story with the living plastic had been a spur of the moment decision, and I couldn’t have those. Too many and my stories wouldn’t make sense in the long haul.

Look, I loved my sister. Darcy was a force all her own, with her own wants. She might join someday, and then I would welcome her with wide arms. It was how we were.

She’s to me what Rose is to the Doctor. I met her after a dark time in my life, needing someone to bring good into my fractured soul. Darcy did that, giving me a good punch in the face when I needed it. I knew better than to force her into something she didn’t want. She might blow something up.

...I realize that things blow up all the time here, but Darcy would blow up something important!

I snorted at my inner dialogue, giving the room one last look. It had been a home for a month, not bad. My future was in the TARDIS, though. She was my next home, a life I needed to run back to.

She was the only place I would be safe from Logan.

Throwing my bag over my shoulder, my journal in hand, I walked to my door to say goodbye to mundane and hello to everywhere.

There was a note on the back of the door, insuring I wouldn’t see it until I left. I pulled it off, reading it with growing terror.

_ ‘Terra Johnson, brave as ten wolves. Foolish as them too. _

_ She had forgotten the rule of predators. Never let them give chase, or they’ll surely come after you. _

_ Beware of the Tiger, with claws smeared in blood. He’ll be there any time. _

_ She can pretend to be a hero, but I know the truth. By the end of it all, Terra will be mine. _

_ -Logan’ _

I crumbled the paper, stuffing it into my journal. This was all the more reason to leave now.

 

==CON==

 

It was a bit of a blur after that. The world went back in focus at the sight of the TARDIS.

I ran to the box, pressing my back against her sides like a little kid. She was vibrating behind me, alive and spirited as ever. I sunk to the ground, resting the back of my head against her.

“Alouette, gentille alouette.” I hummed gently. The song had been a lullaby to myself ever since I was a child. “Alouette, je te plumerai.”

The TARDIS hummed, and I swear I felt her vibrate behind my back. “Alouette, gentille Alouette. Alouette je te plumerai.”

The TARDIS door swung open. I was hidden on her side, in a dark alley, so the Doctor couldn’t see me from here. The Doctor ran out of the TARDIS, towards the restaurant with Rose. The door slammed shut behind him.

Gulping, I made careful steps towards her. It felt strange walking up to her, knowing I would actually get to be inside. Not in the way it was strange with Rose or the Doctor. This felt like walking to your best friend after a big fight.

It was the TARDIS, I know, but not  _ my _ TARDIS. Just looking at that future one, the one not on TV yet, made it feel like mine. It felt like it was just as much mine as it was his. It felt like my heart and soul were in that cold looking exterior to her warm heart, it’s home.

This console wasn’t. This console was new.

Almost hesitantly, I reached for her door handle.

*click*

The door opened outwards. Best way to make up with a friend was to be a bit of a suck up. I grabbed the door, opening it wider.

Then I saw it.

“Wow.” I looked around the console room. “Like the look. Very coral-y.”

There was a sort of hum. I felt like she was agreeing.

“No offense. I liked Eleven’s better.” I admitted, with a shrug. Another hum.

After a brief self assurance, I walked farther into the TARDIS. The sound of my shoes hitting the metal caused an echo. The room looked to be lit with gold, but her green core brought it all together. The various bulbs and knobs on the console called out to me, begging for me to give her a test drive.

Eleven’s was full of hurt, of days missed and people lost. Nine’s was of hope, a beacon bringing lost souls together. I guess I liked depressing things.  _ ‘Sad is happy for deep people.’ _

Now that was a quote I could live with.

 

==CON==

 

The note was in my head. I was reading it again for the fiftieth time. Tiger, he really wants to be called the Tiger? He called me a wolf, ten wolves in fact. An eternal battle of cats vs dogs.

Garfield Logan. Wants me. To call him. A giant pussy.

Hehehe. That actually makes this whole thing better.

My chuckles echoed in the console room. I looked up at the TARDIS. “Is he serious with this? I can’t be scared of a guy who is literally calling himself a giant cat. He is  _ asking _ to be made fun of.”

The TARDIS didn’t him that time, though I still knew she was amused.

“And a tiger?” I snorted. My head leaned back against the pilot seat. “Could’ve gone with a lion, or a panther, but he chose a tiger. Known for stripes, and Frosted Flakes. He found my weakness. I’m  _ really _ scared of breakfast cereals.”

That made me crack. I burst out into laughter, laughing so hard I had to hold my sides. There was this one bad guy I fought, we called him a fruitloop. Now I might start calling Logan  _ Frosted Flakes _ .

I forced myself to calm my laughter. That idiot Time Lord would be back any sec-

The Doctor walked in, Mickey’s plastic head in his hand. “Could have sworn I left you locked.”

I shot up from the pilot seat. “Hey! This is my house! _ Get out _ !” I barked at him.

The Doctor paused in his somewhat jubilant steps. He looked at me with annoyance.

The Doctor looked up at me. I gave him a cheeky smile, waving my hand. “Hello! What are you still doing in my box?”

“I’m gonna ask you the same question.” The Doctor barked. He apparently wasn’t happy to find his box invaded.

“She let me in.” I shrugged, walking up to the console. “Guessing she did the same for you.”

The Doctor glared at me. He walked closer, Mickey’s head still in his hand. I just smirked back. “The  _ TARDIS _ let you in?”

“Yeah.” I said, leaning against the console, looking at all of the various switches. “I like it here.”

“The TARDIS  _ let _ you in?” He repeated, almost like he was asking himself. “Why would she go and do something like that?”

“I don’t know, but I know I was here first. Finders keepers, rule of the streets.” I crossed my arms over my chest. “So, get out of my box.”

“The TARDIS is not a place for you to slum for the night.” The Doctor snapped. “How about you just run on home, kid.”

“Can’t. Ran away.” I half-lied. “What’s TARDIS stand for?”

“Not tellin’ you.”

I looked up at the TARDIS. “The nerve of some people.”

She hummed. It sounded like a laugh.

Rose suddenly burst in, then ran right back out.

I snorted. That was actually kinda funny. No wonder the Doctor loved seeing people react to walking into the TARDIS.

“So it doesn’t surprise you?” The Doctor asked. I quirked a brow. “She’s bigger on the inside.”

“Is she? Hadn’t noticed.” I snarked, walking around the console.

The Doctor shook his head at me. He was gonna wait til later to yell at me, probably. He started scanning the plastic head, dashing about the console.

Rose came back in, getting over her shock for fear of her life. “It’s going to follow us!”

“The assembled hordes of Genghis Khan couldn’t get through that door, and believe me, they’ve tried.” The Doctor assured, not even looking back at Rose or at me. He was hooking Mickey’s head up to the console. “Now, shut up a minute.”

I walked over to the girl. “Are you running from something?” I asked her.

Rose was still in shock, though nodded. “My boyfriend was swapped with plastic and he’s trying to kill me.”

I blinked, then nodded. “Okay.”

The Doctor chose that moment to start a science lecture. “You see, the arm was too simple, but the head’s perfect. I can use it to trace the signal back to the original source.” He put the head down, turning to Rose.

The girl was looking around the spacious room, shocked.

“Right. Where do you want to start?” The Doctor asked.

“Er, the inside’s bigger than the outside?” Rose said, though not looking at the Doctor.

“Yes.” The Doctor said, no hint of amusement on his face. He was getting this over with, even though it was his favorite part. The world was at stake, so I guess that kills the mood.

“It’s alien.” Rose realized.

“Yeah.” The Doctor said.

The girl stared at him. “Are you alien?”

“Yes.” The Time Lord paused. “Is that alright?” He asked, unsure.

“Yeah.” She said quickly. She glanced over at me. She seemed more hesitant than earlier. Had she found something in her research of me that was too far? “Are you alien?”

I snorted. Technically, I had no idea what I was. Terra Johnson, reality Jumper, or Terra Johnson, Time Lady who had no idea she was a Time Lady.

Here’s a questions. How does one tell a lie, while also telling the truth? The answer? By being from another reality where the lie is the truth.

“Sorry. Earth, born and raised.” I said, holding my hands up while walking off to the pilot seat. It was really comfy.

See? Even though Terra was born on Gallifrey and raised on Earth, back Home I was born on Earth and raised there. It was breaking character, but just for a few seconds so I could let it slide.

The Doctor turned his body towards Rose. He bought it. Good start, but the game has only just begun. “It’s called the TARDIS, this thing. T-A-R-D-I-S. That’s  _ Time And Relative Dimension In Space _ .”

Rose burst into tears. I shifted nervously in my seat. Tears, bringing comfort, not my strong suit with grown-ups. Kids, now those I could work with. Teenagers crying over their boyfriend? I might tell her to suck it up and move on.  _ ‘Come on, Tyler. Crying is what Mickey does for fun. Buck up.’ _

“That’s okay. Culture shock.” The Doctor said. “Happens to the best of us.”

_ ‘Hasn’t happened to me, and I’m the best there is.’  _ I commented.

“Did they kill him?” Rose cried, going back and forth from the Doctor and I. She should stop that habit before it starts, she’ll get whiplash. “Mickey? Did they kill Mickey? Is he dead?” She steeled herself.

The Doctor blinked. “Oh. I didn’t think of that.”

“Probably not.” I shrugged, fixing my headband. “Why kill a hostage?”

Rose glared at us, mostly the Doctor.  “He’s my boyfriend, not some random hostage. You pulled off his head. They copied him and you didn’t even think? And now you’re just going to let him melt?”

“Melt?” The Doctor and I said. We looked at the head, seeing it do as Rose said.

“Melt!” I shot up from my seat, running over to the head. I pulled it up, trying to keep as little melted plastic on her console as possible. She probably didn’t appreciate melted plastic in her console.

“Oh, no, no, no, no, no!” The Doctor shouted, running to get the TARDIS moving.

“What’re you doing?” Rose asked.

I didn’t responded. This head should be burning, but it wasn’t. It was dropping like wet paper. It was still connected to the wires, so that was something.

“Following the signal. It’s fading.” The Time Lord dashed to the computer. I would have glanced at it, but this head thing was  _ this _ close to break in my fingers. “Wait a minute, I’ve got it. No, no, no, no, no, no, no!”

Amongst his no’s, the TARDIS took off. I looked up at the clear tube emitting a green light. 

“Almost there. Almost there.” The Doctor encouraged Idris. “Here we go!” The noise stopped, and the Time Lord ran to the door. I put the head down, following after him.

“You can’t go out there. It’s not safe.” Rose called out, worriedly.

I walked up the Doctor. He was pouting. “I lost the signal, I got  _ so _ close.”

“We’ve moved. Does it fly?” Rose asked.

The Time Lord rolled his eyes in impatience. “Disappears there and reappears here. You wouldn’t understand.”

“Don’t we have more important things to do than ” I shrugged, leaning against the stone wall keeping us out of the river.

“If we’re somewhere else, what about that headless thing? It’s still on the loose.” Rose said.

I rolled my eyes. Could she at least try to figure it out? We needed to be chasing after the living plastic.

“It melted with the head. Are you going to witter on all night?” The Doctor snapped, annoyed with Rose’s moaning as I was. He walked closer to the TARDIS, probably looking for the plastic.

I walked up to the girl, clasping my hands together and pointing at Rose. Her whining needed to stop, or I would start hiring her. “Rose, listen to me.” I kept my voice even, calm. “You care about Mickey, right?”

Rose sucked in a pained breath, nodding.

“That’s good.” I put on a gentle smile. “Rose, right now, Mickey needs you to be strong. We haven’t forgotten him, we’re trying to find him.”

“The Doctor forgot him.” Rose sent a glare to the Time Lord. “I’ll have to tell his mother. Mickey. I’ll have to tell his mother he’s dead, and you just went and forgot him, again! You were right, you are alien.”

“Rose. I need you to listen to me.” I said, holding Rose’s shoulders. “Don’t think like that.

“But he melted-”

“Until proven otherwise, we need to believe Mickey is alive.” I assured. “Can you remember that? Until we know for sure, Mickey is okay.”

Rose scoffed, starting to walk away. The Doctor rolled his eyes at us. “Look, if I did forget some kid called Mickey-”

“Yeah, he’s not a kid.”

“I  _ just _ got her to stop her moaning.”

“It’s because I’m trying to save the life of every  _ stupid ape _ blundering on top of this planet, alright?” The Doctor talked down to Rose. Well, I think anyone who calls your species stupid apes is talking down to you.

The young girl blinked, furious. “Alright?!”

“Yes, it is!”

“If you are an alien, how comes you sound like you’re from the North?”

_ ‘I’ll take non sequiturs for 800 Alex.’ _ I thought dryly.

“Lots of planets have a north.” The Doctor said indignantly.

Rose didn’t flinch at the slight. I snorted. “What’s a police public call box?” Rose asked, looking at the TARDIS

The Doctor looked to the box, walking to her side. A wide smile was on his face. “It’s a telephone box from the 1950s. It’s a disguise.”

Rose and I snickered at his boy like joy. “Okay. And this, this living plastic. What’s it got against us?”

I walked closer to him, leaning against the sign on the TARDIS. Rise came up behind me, brushing hair out of her face. 

“Nothing. It loves you.” The Doctor looked back and forth from Rose and I, as if judging our reactions. “You’ve got such a good planet. Lots of smoke and oil, plenty of toxins and dioxins in the air, perfect. Just what the Nestene Consciousness needs. It’s food stock was destroyed in the War, all its protein plants rotted, so Earth, dinner!”

The War. The Time War. The one thing you never mention to the Doctor unless you want him to blow you up.

“Any way of stopping it?” I asked.

The Doctor held up a beaker of blue liquid. “Anti-plastic.” He answered.

Rose didn’t believe it. “Anti-plastic.”

“Anti-plastic.” You know, I once knew a race of creatures were they had polar opposites called Anti-Fairies. Nasty little blue demons, they were. They tied my shoes together. “But first I’ve got to find it. How can you hide something that big in a city this small?” The Doctor said more to himself, looking across the city.

“Hold on. Hide what?” Rose asked.

“The relay over Henrick’s.” I said, trying to make it sound like I was just coming up with it. “It’s just  _ one  _ relay, barely enough to cover that building. To control enough plastic to cover planet earth, you’d need a really big transmitter to boost that signal.”

The Doctor nodded, though he looked a bit suspicious. I hope that it was about the Nestene and not me. He began pacing in the street, putting the Anti-Plastic back in his pocket.

“What’s it look like?” Rose asked the Doctor.

“Like a transmitter.” The Doctor  Round and massive, slap bang in the middle of London.”

He stopped his pacing, gathering his thoughts. However, he stopped in front of the London Eye. My eyes widened in disbelief, staring at the massive structure. Rose was in the same boat.

“A huge circular metal structure like a dish, like a wheel. Radial. Close to where we’re standing. Must be completely invisible.” The Doctor said, again completely oblivious. I snorted. “What?

Rose nodded her head at the Eye. The Doctor turned, then looked back to us.

“What?” He asked.

I snorted, louder. “Oh, this is terrific.”

The little exchange happens four more times before the Doctor catches on, and I’m vibrating from keeping my laughter in. 

“Oh. Fantastic!”

I laughed, grabbing at my sides.

The three of us began a mad dash to the Eye, hoping we wouldn’t be too late.

 

==CON==

 

The Doctor, Rose, and I stopped at the start of the line for the Eye. I started searching the area, looking for any sort of Auton. They have put guards up or something, you never know.

The Doctor felt the need to add on to our plight. “Think of it, plastic all over the world, every artificial thing waiting to come alive. The shop window dummies, the phones, the wires, the cables-”

“The breast implants.” Rose joked.

“The kids.” I realized. The kids, all playing with plastic toys. “Plastic cars, or planes, or dolls. And the elderly, artificial hips, or bones.” Shaking my head, I pushed my hands in my pockets. “Wow. Humans wear a lot of plastic.”

“Still, we’ve found the transmitter.” The Doctor said. “The Consciousness must be somewhere underneath.”

“The Consciousness?” I asked, hoping to put off the idea of my knowledge of today.

“The Nestene Consciousness.” The Doctor explained. “The thing controlling all of the plastic.”

“Good name.” I added.

During our discussion, Rose had (surprise surprise) wandered off. “What about down here?” Rose called back to us.

I ran to her side, the Doctor just behind me. There was a large manhole at the bottom of the stairs.

The Doctor grinned. “Looks good to me.”

“Great for the Consciousness.” I joked, running over to the stairs. 

The Doctor and Rose followed behind me. I guess that meant I was the fastest, cool. When the Doctor got to the manhole, he and I started turning the wheel.

We lifted it off, revealing a bright red room emitting some heat.

The Doctor climbed down, not even. hesitating. I followed. Time for a showdown.

 

==CON==

 

It hadn’t taken long to find the Nestene Consciousness. A great big bar of orange goop, sitting in the middle of the basement. Mickey was an easy spot too, crouched in a corner with chains on him.

A part of me knew I should feel sorrowful, some show of emotions about this. A human being was trapped, chained up like an animal. Yet there was nothing, just a strange sort of neutrality. Emotions like that led to mistakes. If I reacted to it now, I could catch the attention of the gak pit over there. That could lead to it showing out the attack, getting hundreds of people killed, to Mickey getting killed.

My job was to protect the innocent, keep the death toll as low as I possibly could. Mickey’s and Rose’s safety was my number one priority right now. The Doctor is a big boy (up for debate), he can handle himself (not at all up for debate. The man can’t dress himself).

“The Nestene Consciousness. That’s it, inside the vat. A living plastic creature.” The Doctor explained.

“Well, then. Tip in your anti-plastic and let’s go.” Rose said, almost offhandedly.

“Rose, slow down.” I held a scolding hand up at her. “We want to get out of here with as little loss as necessary. They have Mickey, and talking to it might give you and I time to find him.”

Rose froze at my words. She had been accusing us of forgetting Mickey, and there she went doing the same. She seemed scared now, casting me a wary glance.

The Doctor agreed with me. “I’m not here to kill it. I’ve got to give it a chance.” The Doctor walked off, me behind him and Rose behind me. “I seek audience with the Nestene Consciousness under peaceful contract according to convention 15 of the Shadow Proclamation.”

The vat moved, a loud rumbling growl coming out from it. I have seen a lot, but talking gak is new.

“Thank you.” The Doctor said.  _ ‘Damn that TARDIS translation matrix. Why hasn’t it kicked in on me yet?’ “ _ If I might have permission to approach?”

I elbowed Rose, quietly moving her along the catwalk. My head motioned to the crouched boy. “Is that your boyfriend?”

Rose followed my gaze, seeing Mickey. The boy was looking back at her. Without a second’s hesitation, Rose ran after him. “Oh, God! Mickey, it’s me!”

The Doctor and I rolled our eyes, following after her. 

“It’s okay. It’s alright.” Rose went to his side, putting a comforting arm over his shoulder.

Mickey nearly started crying, fearfully glancing back at the gak. “That thing down there, the liquid. Rose, it can talk!” He whined.

“You’re stinking.” Rose turned back to us. “Terra, Doctor, they kept him alive.”

“I told they you did.” I shrugged, confused as to how she was surprised. 

“Yeah, that was always a possibility.” The Doctor said, continuing on down the stairs. I stayed on the rails, leaning back. “Keep him alive to maintain the copy.”

“You knew that and you never said?” Rose snapped. 

“Can we keep the domestics outside, thank you?” The Doctor smartly decided to run. 

I helped Mickey to his feet, shoving him and Rose in the direction of the stairs. “Let’s get going.” They nodded.

“Am I addressing the Consciousness?” The three of us paused, watching the Doctor talk to the plastic.

“Actually. It might be better if we see this through.” I said. I went the the metal rails, leaning over to watch the exchange.

A sort of face formed in the gak. Rose and Mickey recoiled, but I found myself staring with curiosity. It rumbled at the Doctor.

“Thank you.” The Doctor said politely. “If I might observe, you infiltrated this civilisation by means of warp shunt technology. So, may I suggest, with the greatest respect, that you  _ shunt _ off?”

I snorted. Now I really wished the TARDIS translation matrix was working on me. This conversation is probably funnier when you hear the gak’s side.

“Oh, don’t give me that. It’s an invasion, plain and simple. Don’t talk about constitutional rights.” The Doctor said with a roll of his eyes.

The gak threw a fit, sloshing in his hole. Some bits of melted plastic went over the sides, scorching the concrete.

“I am talking!” The Doctor shouted in a scolding tone.

The gak calmed, begrudgingly. My eyes caught sight of the approaching plastic men. My eyes widened slightly. Careful not to catch the attention of Rose, I snuck down the stairs to head them off. And no, I would not behead them, that’s been done to death.

Not making a sound, I crept up behind the dummies. They seemed none the wiser, but it was best to stay cautious.

“This planet is just starting. These  _ stupid  _ little people have only just learnt how to walk, but they’re capable of so much more.” The Doctor pleaded with the gak. “I’m asking you on their behalf. Please, just go.”

The dummies got a little too close. “Doctor!” Rose yelled.

The Doctor turned his back just in time to see me fight the dummies. I dropped into a crouch, swing kicking down one of the dummies. The other had grabbed ahold of the Doctor, so I got to be a little creative.

I hopped up, running to grab the second Auton’s arm. “I don’t think it liked your tone!” I snapped at the Doctor.

He was struggling against the second Auton. “Terra, what are you doing?!”

The dummies could get up much faster than I originally thought. Just when I was getting the second Auton’s grip to loosen, the first wrapped his arms under my shoulders. I fruitlessly pulled against them, glaring at the Doctor. The second Auton was working his way into the Doctor’s front pocket.

“I saw the dummies creeping up on you.” I explained. “Thought if I got the jump on them that you could get away.”

The Doctor looked back to Rose. The first Auton pulled out the blue tube. The gak hissed. Apparently living plastic could spot anti plastic just by looking at it. 

The Doctor instantly tried covering his tracks. He really hadn’t wanted to kill them, but he wasn’t stupid enough to come in here unprepared. “That was just insurance. I wasn’t going to use it.” The gak made an indignant shout. “I was not attacking you. I’m here to help. I’m not your enemy. I swear, I’m not.”

The gak screeched, loud enough to make me wince. Was this another thing of Time Lord hearing?

“What do you mean?” A door in a nearby crate slid back to reveal the TARDIS. I fought against the Auton holding me, trying to kick it away. No plastic doll is gonna hurt the TARDIS! “No. Oh, no. Honestly, no.” The gak screeched. “Yes, that’s my ship.” Another angry screech. “That’s not true. I should know, I was there. I fought in the War. It wasn’t my fault.” I turned to the Doctor, pausing in my attack on the Auton. He sounded heartbroken, almost ashamed.

That got me thinking. I was a Time Lady in this reality, the last two of my kind. Back Home, I don’t have a name for what I am, just a list of abilities. Even in another universe, I’m the last of my species. I’m all that’s left of a race that might not exist. The Doctor had his species, he had his history, he had a  _ name _ , and he was the one that pulled the trigger. I can’t imagine killing my little sister, or any of my family back Home, but the Doctor doesn’t have to.

No wonder Nine was so much darker than any other Doctor.

“I couldn’t save your world! I couldn’t save any of them!” The Doctor tried to explain to the gak, pain in his voice.

The gak didn’t like his answer. It swished in the pit, making me flinch back in case of splashing plastic.

“What’s it doing?!” Rose shouted. Mickey cowering behind her.

The Doctor and I turned to her, fighting against the dummies holding us back. I don’t know how the first Auton was able to hold the Doctor  _ and  _ the Anti-Plastic. “It’s the TARDIS! The Nestene’s identified its superior technology. It’s terrified. It’s going to the final phase.” Rose gave him a look to continue. The Doctor spoke in a rushed, panicked voice. “It’s starting the invasion! Get out, Rose! Just leg it now!”

So what does  _ the _ Rose Tyler do? She calls her mum, to make sure she gets home safe.

I know that sounded sarcastic, but it wasn’t. If I was in Rose’s shoes, I would’ve pulled Mickey out of the building then come running back for the Doctor.

Meanwhile, I looked back to the Auton holding me. It should be easy enough to get off, although why the Doctor was having trouble was still unclear. I grabbed the Auton’s wrists, keeping it close. This was an old trick, that I hoped would work with plastic.

Blue lightning suddenly shot out of the gak, rising to the ceiling and beyond. I glared at it. The universe was laughing at me right now, wasn’t it?

“It’s the activation signal.” The Doctor shouted. “It’s transmitting!”

“It’s the end of the world.” Rose said.

_ ‘We’ll see about that.’ _ I thought. I turned back to the girl that was staring at me with wide eyes. “Get out, Rose! Get Mickey and run!”

“The stairs have gone.” Rose said, looking back to the collapsing stairs.

The Auton tried pushing the Doctor into the gak. While I glared at it, Rose and Mickey ran to the TARDIS. I ran to it’s side, trying to pull it back. With the Doctor and I both pulling against it, we could barely get it to budge.

“I haven’t got the key!” Rose told Mickey.

The boy panicked. “We’re going to die!”

The gak wailed at being fed one of it’s own. 

I can’t please  _ anybody _ , can I?

“No!”

Huh?

The Doctor had been moved just slightly in my brief lapse. He was closer to the edge, looking back pleadingly at Rose. I immediately pulled back on the Auton’s arm, trying to get him away from the edge.

If any of us let go, we would all tumble over the edge into the gak. The anti-plastic would too, if that was anything.

“Time Lord.” The gak hissed, and I somehow knew it was looking at me.

The Doctor and I looked to Rose. She stood straighter, Mickey clinging to her leg.

“Just leave them! There’s nothing you can do!”

_ ‘I’ll remember that next year when your being attacked by Slitheen, Mickey the Mouse.’ _ I thought.

Rose Tyler pulled an axe off the wall. “I’ve got no A Levels, no job, no  _ future _ .” She laughed, as if she had bed hearing that for years and years. “But I tell you what I have got. Jericho Street Junior School under 7s gymnastic team.”

She hopped down the rope, grabbing hold of it. I smirked at her spunk. She spun around, doing a run up. “I’ve got the bronze!”

I heaved my body forward, forcing the Auton to move with me.

As predicted, it flipped onto it’s back on the metal ground. It legs dangled over the edge of the platform. With a simple shove of my foot it went into the gak. A loud splash could be heard down below.

That would be the Doctor if I don’t get moving.

I leapt away from the Doctor, to avoiding getting kicked in the head by Rose. Rose was able to kick the second Auton off the Doctor’s back, into the gak.

The tube had opened, spilling anti-plastic over the gak. It groaned in pain, glowing bright blue.

“Rose!” I said, just before the Doctor ran over to catch her. 

The Doctor smirked at us both. “Now we’re in trouble.”

_ And then we ran... _

 

==CON==

 

Mickey was outright shrieking when we dragged him into the TARDIS. He dudn’t utter a syllable, but it was all on the inside. We had barely landed before Mickey was out the door faster than the roadrunner runs from the coyote.

Rose called her mum, making sure she was alive. She chuckled then hung up. I walked out of the TARDIS, leaning against her door. 

“A fat lot of good you were.” Rose said, running up to the petrified Mickey to give him a hug.

The Doctor snapped his fingers. “Nestene Consciousness? Easy.”

“You were useless in there.” Rose smirked at him. “You’d be dead if it wasn’t for Terra and me.”

“Terra and I.” I corrected. What? I liked proper grammar when I was being praised. “And it wouldn’t just be him that’d be dead.” I pushed my back off the door, walking to the middle of the street. “It would have been  _ the whole of planet earth _ .” I turned to the Doctor, stuffing my hands in my pockets with a confident grin. “Feel free to say thanks.”

The Doctor smiled politely at Rose. “Yes, I would.” Then awkward look at me. “Thank you.”

I smiled teasingly back. “Was nothing. Basic Tuesday.”

He glared, a grin sneaking onto his features. “Right then, I’ll be off, unless, er, I don’t know, you could come with me?” The Doctor asked Rose. “This box isn’t just a London hopper, you know. It goes anywhere in the universe free of charge.”

“Don’t.” Mickey immediately pleaded with Rose. “He’s an alien. He’s a thing.”

“ _ He’s _ not invited.” The Doctor said pointedly.

I snorted. “Am I?” I asked.

The Doctor turned his eyes to me, and I could see him debating.  _ ‘Come on, Doc, be seduced by the coolness.’ _ I quoted  _ Phineas and Ferb. ‘I’m a mystery. I walked into your locked TARDIS. I blew up a shop without blinking. I’ve met living plastic before tonight. I helped save your life!’ _

Then I realized. He wanted to show people the stars to see that look in their eyes. I had shown that there was nothing unusual about any of this for me. I couldn’t be easily impressed by random planets or anything of the like.

What quote could I use to sum it up?  _ ‘The old prefers the company of the young.’ _ Yes, that’ll do.

The Doctor apparently saw my smile drop, turning back to Rose. “What do you think? You could stay here, fill your life with work and food and sleep, or you could go anywhere.”

“Is it always this dangerous?” Rose asked after a pause.

The Doctor beamed. “Yeah.”

Mickey hugged Rose, staring at the TARDIS and the Doctor with fear. Rose hugged his shoulders. “Yeah, I can’t. I’ve er, I’ve got to go and find my mum and someone’s got to look after this stupid lump, so.”

The Doctor masked his hurt, barely. “Okay. See you around.”

“Hey wait-” I ran closer to the blue box.

The Doctor closed the door, locking me out. I almost started hitting her doors when the noise began. I stepped away, watching as she vanished. “Darn it. I was gonna say yes.”

“Come on, let’s go.” I heard Rose mutter to Mickey. “Come on. Come on.”

“ _ Time _ And Relative Dimension In Space” I said as an afterthought.

“What was that?” Rose asked.

I turned to her, dropping my jaw and widening my eyes. It was my ‘I just realized this’ face, helps with the act. “Rose, I think that was a time machine.”

The girl stared at me, shocked. It was clicking together in her head, all that stuff Clive told  her. It had occurred to me that Rose would have researched me, but there had to be dozens of Terra Johnsons in London alone. There were only eleven doctors, plus another two that I hadn’t seen yet. She couldn’t have found anything real. I was under a fake name too!

The TARDIS materialized. The two of us looked at her with hope in our eyes.

The Doctor popped his head out, smiling at Rose. “By the way, did I mention it also travels in time?”

He backed away, inviting her in.

I smirked, looking at Rose with the same invitation. “Thanks.” Rose said to Mickey.

“Thanks for what?” Mickey asked.

Rose smiled. “Exactly.” She kissed his cheek.

The offer was too tempting. Rose ran to my side, taking my hand excitedly. Oh, this felt like a proper friend thing. I liked that.

“Off we go!” I cheered, running into the TARDIS before the Doctor could tell me otherwise.


	4. The End Of The World

The Doctor glared at me, the TARDIS already in transit so it was too late to drop me off back on Earth.

“Hi.” I grinned, giving him a head bob. “Thought I’d come get my house back.”

“The TARDIS is not your house!” The Doctor argued, walking over to the TARDIS screen. I snuck a glance at the ceiling, winking at Idris. “I’m taking you home. Where do you live?” The Doctor asked, nay ordered, for my residence.

I smirked. Time to have some fun with Nine. “With my friend.” I said in a sing song tune, smiling deviously.

The Doctor almost glared. “And where does your  _ friend  _ live?” He emphasised that word, as if doubting I had friends.

I threw a glare back. It was true, my only friend was my sister, but I wasn’t about to let him know that. “With me.”

The Doctor huffed. “Where do you both live?”

“Together.” I answered. Rose giggled off to the side. She should get used to this, I had a feeling Doc and I would be arguing a lot.

The Doctor changed tactics. “Where is your house?” The Doctor asked, hand still posed over the computer screen but his eyes were glaring at me.

“Next to my neighbor’s house.”

The Doctor grunted. I was annoying him, but I didn’t care. This was way too much fun. “And where do they live?”

I threw my head to the side, pushing my hands in my hoodie pockets. My bottom lip stuck out in a pout. “You won’t believe me if I tell you.”

“Tell me!” The Doctor barked.

“Next to  _ my _ house.” That made Rose almost fall the ground laughing. Then, I turned to her. “So, he said this is a time machine, right? When are we going first? Forwards or backwards?”

Rose got back to her feet, still smiling. 

“Now, hold on a minute-”

“Forwards.” Rose decided, turning to the Doctor with a deviant smile.

I frowned, looking at the Doctor. “Nah, I don’t think he can do it.” I dared, tsking. 

The Time Lord stood straighter, giving Rose and I looks of overconfidence. He took the bait. “How far?” He asked us, pulling various switches.

Rose and I exchanged a look. Now that we knew the Doctor could take bait, it would never stop. “One hundred years.” The companion said.

He pulled more levers, bracing himself on the console. I followed, fighting the urge to bounce in place. “There you go. Step outside those doors, it’s the twenty second century.”

“You’re kidding.” Rose said.

I scoffed, rolling my eyes. “ _ Only _ one hundred years? Bit boring, wouldn’t ya say?”

The Doctor squinted his face, frowning. “Do you want to go further?”

“If you can.” I said with a grin.

“Fine by me.” Rose agreed.

The Doctor pulled on the levers and dials, not taking his eyes off us. “Ten thousand years in the future. Step outside, it’s the year 12005, the new Roman Empire.”

Rose shook her head, leaning against the console. “You think you’re so impressive.” She said.

“I  _ am _ so impressive.” The Doctor said, offended.

“You wish.” The new companion smiled, making me smile at the Doctor’s face.

“Right then, you lot asked for it. I know exactly where to go. Hold on!” The Time Lord piloted the TARDIS, making it shake harder than I’ve ever felt.

My hands grabbed the console, bracing myself from the turbulence. The  _ whoosh  _ noise was getting louder the farther back in time we went. This was it, this was the start of it.

I smiled up at the glowing bit in the middle, feeling a strange sort of euphoria. Maybe this was that Time Sense I had heard about. There was the feeling on the back of my mind, disconnecting from that Time and whirling about for the next one. It’s vaguely like shrugging off a jacket to let cool air on your shoulders.

No wonder the Doctor got so giddy in transit. This feeling was amazing!

For however long I would be traveling with the Doctor, this would be our first adventure. Sure, we had the living plastic with Rose, but this was an  _ adventure _ . I’d meet  _ proper _ Doctor Who aliens, Cassandra, and the beloved Face of Boe!

The noise stopped, so Rose and I looked at the Doctor.

“Where are we?” Rose asked.

The Doctor gestured dramatically at the door.

“Okay wiseguy.” I stood back on the balls of my feet. “What’s out there?”

He dramatically gestured again.

I rolled my eyes, an excited look on my face. The Time Sense was still leaving be a bit peppy. Rose followed behind me.

The Tine Sense smacked me in the face.  _ 5.5/Apple/26. It was a Tuesday, about 3 o’clock. Platform One, just a few hundred miles above planet Earth. _

I shook my head, fixing my headband as the excuse.

It was a large room, with light wood walls and marble floors. I walked down the stairs, taking of slow. First TARDIS adventure, I was allowed to be slow.

The Doctor walked out of the TARDIS, briefly waving at Rose and I before walking to a nearby wall panel. 

I kept walking down the stairs. The blinds on the window were going down. The Doctor stood between Rose and I, staring intently at the ball that used to be our Earth.

“You lot, you spend all your time thinking about dying, like you’re going to get killed by eggs or beef or global warming or asteroids.” The Doctor explained. “But you never take time to imagine the impossible, that maybe you survive. This is the year five point five slash apple slash twenty six. Five billion years in your future, and this is the day-”

He looked at his wristwatch. “Hold on.”

The sun flared and turns red. My eyebrows quirked, staring curiously at the star.

“This is the day the Sun expands.” The Doctor said. “Welcome to the end of the world.”

 

==CON==

 

_ “Shuttles five and six now docking. Guests are reminded that Platform One forbids the use of weapons, teleportation and religion. Earth Death is scheduled for fifteen thirty nine followed by drinks in the Manchester Suite.” _

The Doctor was taking Rose and I down to the main room, away from the TARDIS. Rose had been a bit off since hearing the Earth would explode soon, although I was less so. 

It was Earth, exploding. No one would risk the legal nightmare of killing a while planet (probably beyond Level 5), so Earth was empty. The only real reason to keep it going, well, there wasn’t. It was her time to go, and I’ve met enough goddesses of the Earth to know she’d love going out of this world with friends...

...unfortunately she got these rich idiots.

“So, when it says guests, does that mean people?” Rose asked, speaking for the first time since arriving.

“Depends what you mean by people.” The Time Lord countered.

“I mean  _ people _ .” Rose emphasized the word.

“Well that’s racist.” I pointed out.

The girl turned to me. “What do you mean?”

“You automatically assumed that guest meant humans. You met plastic that could destroy planet Earth today, and yet the idea of other alien life is flying completely over your head.” I shook my head in wonder. “That’s adorable. You’re new, so I’ll let it slide.”

“New?” Rose snorted, looking me over. “You’re younger then me!”

I shrugged. “In the end. It’s not the years in your life that count, but the life in your years. Abraham Lincoln. Nice guy, told some great stories.”

Rose gaped. “You’ve  _ met _ Abraham Lincoln?”

I stared at her. “No. Did a report on him in fifth grade.”  _ ‘Side note: When I jump into a biography/history book/etc., I become a part of history. Didn’t find that out until I wrote that paper.’ _

Rose seemed to buy it, but the Doctor was less convinced. “So these,  _ aliens,  _ what are they doing on board this spaceship? What’s it all for?”

The Doctor used the sonic on the metal panel. He had been listening to us, and I mentally scolded myself for letting the Abraham bit slip. ‘ _ No more of those, we talked about this!’  _ “It’s not really a spaceship, more like an observation deck. The great and the good are gathering to watch the planet burn.”

“Why?” I asked, stuffing my hands in my hoodie pockets.

“For fun.” The door opened, and the Doctor walked on. “Mind you, when I said the great and the good, what I mean is, the rich.”

Cassandra came up in my mind, making my eyes roll. Then the Face of Boe, which made me smile. Technically, he was the last human, just with a bit extra.  _ ‘I can’t wait to meet him.’ _

“But, hold on. They did this once on Newsround Extra.” Rose said as we walked up to the window. “The sun expanding, that takes hundreds of years.”

“Millions, but the planet’s now property of the National Trust.” The Doctor clarified. I stood by Rose, going back and forth from these two to Planet Earth. “They’ve been keeping it preserved. See down there?” He pointed at these satellites floating around the Earth’s atmosphere. “Gravity satellites holding back the sun.”

“The planet looks the same as in our time.” I pointed out to him. “After millions of years, the continents should have shifted.”

“They did, and the Trust shifted them back. That’s a classic Earth.” The Doctor said. His voice almost sounded like he was a bit proud I had noticed.  _ ‘Probably because he gets to explain why, which makes him seem like the smartest one in the room.’ _ “But now the money’s run out, nature takes over.”

“How long’s it got?” The young girl asked, looking up at the Doctor. 

The Doctor checked his watch. “About half an hour and then the planet gets  _ roasted _ .” He sounded just a bit too excited about this-

He was trying to impress us. Rose was new, she had only been doing this two days. She would be easier. I was a mystery, something challenging. The Doctor could tell it would take a lot to impress me. So, take us safer into Earth’s timeline as he could to make us eat out our words.

That was why he liked it when I asked about the shifting continents. It showed I didn’t have any knowledge on the situation. He could be the big man on campus, kindly showing the freshman and the junior around. 

“Is that why we’re here?” Rose asked. “I mean, is that what you do? Jump in at the last minute and save the Earth?”

_ ‘Yes.’ _ I joked.

The Doctor gave her a hard stare. “I’m not saving it. Time’s up.”

“But what about the people?” Rose asked, concerned. She glanced at me. “The humans, I mean.”

I smiled, proud of her. Most people would have ignored my statement, but Rose listened and evaluated it. She may not agree with it yet, but she knew of the importance.

“It’s empty.” The Doctor said. “They’re all gone. No one left.” 

Rose paused. “Just us, then.”

“Who the hell are you?” We all turned back, seeing a blue-skinned humanoid with golden slit eyes storm towards us. He was dressed in a dark brown suit, almost the same shade as tree bark. On his head was a pale silver cap, though with holes cut out for his ears.

“Oh, that’s nice, thanks.” The Doctor said dryly.

Steward stared down at the Doctor. I almost sighed, annoyed mostly at being ignored. “But how did you get in? This is a maximum hospitality zone. The guests have disembarked. They’re on their way any second now.”

The Doctor pulled out the psychic paper. “That’s me. I’m a guest. Look, I’ve got an invitation. Look. There, you see?” He held the paper higher, to let the Steward get a better look. “It’s fine, you see? The Doctor plus two. I’m the Doctor, this is Rose Tyler and Terra Johnson. They’re with me. Is that alright?”

The Steward stared at the Doctor, clearly embarrassed. I don’t usually enjoy public shamings like this, but this guy was a jerk. Jerk shaming I am more than okay with.

“Well, obviously.” The Steward said, covering his tracks. I snorted. The Doctor seemed just as amused. We put on serious faces as the Steward went on. “Apologies, et cetera. If you’re on board, we’d better start. Enjoy.”

The Steward goes over to a lecturn. “Did you see his face?” I whispered to the slightly impressed Rose. “He looked downright humiliated!”

The Doctor held the paper towards us, showing us what the Steward saw. “The paper’s slightly psychic. It shows them whatever I want them to see. Saves a lot of time.”

“It sounds terrific.” I said, reaching for it. “Mind if I-”

“No.” The Doctor stuffed it back in his jacket pocket.

“Well why not?” I asked. The words came out with a bit of bite, almost like I had been offended at his lack of trust.

The Time Lord gave me a look. “You would steal it.”

I mockingly gasped. “Why, good sir, I am offended. Where was I keen to this mockery born?”

The Doctor paused. “You know Shakespeare?”

“Loved ‘um. Especially the one that turned into  _ Lion King _ .” 

“He’s blue.” Rose commented.

The Doctor and I looked to her, remembering we had a third member in the group. We nodded. “Yeah.”

Rose just went with it. “Okay.”

“We have in attendance  _ the Doctor, Rose Tyler, and Terra Johnson _ .” The Steward said into a microphone. “Thank you. All staff to their positions.”

Much to my amusement, dozens of small men dressed in all black came in. Two stood at the doors, while the rest ran into the small hallway beyond.

I shook my head. “Oompa loompa doompety doo.” I sang lightly, making the Doctor snicker. Rose looked at us, stick in the middle of our madness.

The Steward spoke into he mic again, a rehearsed smile on his face. “And now, might I introduce the next honored guest? Representing the Forest of Cheam, we have trees, namely,  _ Jabe, Lute and Coffa _ .”

A bark-skinned woman walked in, wearing an yellow and red dress. She had two bodyguards following behind her, firm expressions. The kind one expects, looking at a tree.

Rose stared in shock, the Doctor stood there proud of himself, and I was silently laughing at my tree pun.

“There will be an exchange of gifts representing peace.” The Steward explained. “If you could keep the room circulating, thank you. Next, from the solicitors Jolco and Jolco, we have the Moxx of Balhoon.”

More and more aliens and sliding in. This room was starting to feel crowded. I saw the Repeated Meme men glide, making me start to be on high alert. Somewhere on their bodies they had the orbs that would kill Raffalo, the Steward, and who knows how many other workers here.

I could save Raffalo, with some of work. Jabe will be easiest, all we need is someone else to hold down that lever. 

The trees came up to us, bringing me away from my thoughts. Jabe curtsied. “The Gift of Peace. I bring you a cutting of my Grandfather.” She took one of the potted plants, handing it over to the Doctor.

The Doctor smiled, immediately giving it to Rose. The young girl tried passing it back to me, but I backed away before she could. “Thank you.” The Doctor said to Jabe. “Yes, gifts.” He pat down on his pockets, unable to find anything. I snorted. “Er, I give you in return air from my lungs.”

He breathed out onto the tree lady, making her smile in surprise. “How intimate.” She said. She had not been expecting  _ that _ .

“There’s more where that came from.” The Doctor said.

I have never heard a bigger  _ ‘please go away’ _ then what the Doctor just said.

Another snort from me, followed by a confused look from Rose. What? Take away the thought that in an hour some of these people might be dead and we weren’t about to watch Earth explode, this was kinda fun.

Jabe smiled at the Doctor. “I bet there is.” The trees walked away, letting us look at the Doctor in confusion and slight awe.

“Did you just flirt with a  _ tree _ ?” I asked. The Doctor shrugged, still proud of himself.

“From the Silver Devastation, the sponsor of the main event, please welcome  _ the Face of Boe _ .” The Steward announced.

The giant head was filled in, causing me to gape at him like a fish. I could feel this strange feeling coming off of him, not like there was something wrong, but more like there had been. I guess losing his head made Jack a less  _ immortal _ . As powerful as the Bad Wolf is, not even she could keep him alive forever.

Jack Harkness. I was going to meet Jack Fucking Everything That Moves Harkness.  _ Yesyesyesyesyes! _

What brought me out of my fangirling was the sound of spit flying. I paid attention just in time toRose get hit  _ right in the face _ .

“Oh my Story. That just happened.” I laughed, having to turn myself around so Rose didn’t see.

The Doctor was snickering with me.  “Thank you  _ very _ much.” The Adherents approached, making me square my shoulders. “Ah! The Adherents of the Repeated Meme. I bring you air from my lungs.” He breathed heavily on them, and that time I was a bit more disgusted with the action.

An Adherent held out a metal ball. “A gift of peace in all good faith.”

The Doctor took it, passing it to Rose who passed it to me. I was perfectly fine with this. Needed it to help my Plan.

“And last but not least, our very special guest.” The Steward announced, drawing attention to him. Rose watched the proceeding  with wary eyes. “Ladies and gentlemen, and trees and multiforms, consider the Earth below. In memory of this dying world, we call forth the last Human.” The Doctor smiled at Rose. I held back snorts and chuckles. “The  _ Lady Cassandra O’Brien Dot Delta Seventeen.” _

The flap of skin was rolled in, flanked by two men dressed in protective gear.

Cassandra didn’t pay any mind to the fact that no one was applauding her. “Oh, now, don’t stare. I know, I know it’s shocking, isn’t it? I’ve had my chin completely taken away and look at the difference.”

The Doctor and I were laughing, silently, at Rose’s shock. I had to cover my mouth with my hand, using my arm to hold my side.

“Look how thin I am. Thin and dainty. I don’t look a day over two thousand.” Cassandra’s eyes went back to the attendants. “Moisturise me. Moisturise me.”

As they did, Cassandra continued on.  Rose walked over, looking at the flap to devil it actually  _ was _ a flap. “Truly, I am the last Human. My father was a Texan, my mother was from the Arctic Desert. They were born on the Earth and were the last to be buried in its soil. I have come to honor them and say goodbye.”

Cassandra blinked rapidly, the only expression she could truly show on what little muscle she had left. Her attendant batted the tears away. “Oh, no tears, no tears. I’m sorry. But behold, I bring gifts.”

An Oompa Loompa walked in, carrying the relay for her transport. Although it was painted to look like an ostrich egg. “From Earth itself, the last remaining ostrich egg. Legend says it had a wingspan of fifty feet and blew fire from its nostrils. Or was that my third husband?”

A few chuckles from the crowd. Rose was still in shock over last human. 

“Oh, no. Oh, don’t laugh. I’ll get laughter lines.” Cassandra said. I tilted my head. How could she  _ still  _ be getting lines? She doesn’t have enough skin for it! “And here, another rarity.”

Two more Oompa Loompas waddled in with the 50’s jukebox. “According to the archives, this was called an iPod.” I snorted. I didn’t truly believe the stereotype that the elderly couldn’t quite grasp modern technology, and this just proved it. “It stores classical music from humanity’s greatest composers. Play on!”

A song played from the jukebox, I started dancing with it. It was similar to the Doctor’s dance for it, except my hands were in my hoodie pockets. Rose seemed to be the only not able to wrap her head around it.

The Steward made one final announcement. “Refreshments will now be served. Earth Death in thirty minutes.”

Seeing Rose’s unease, I decided to walk over to her to try and help her adjust. She was may come to be Rose Tyler, but right now she was Rose. I know it doesn’t sound like a real difference, but it was huge one. This was her first adventure off Earth, and she was about to watch it burn with no one stopping it.

I walked up to Rose’s side. “Hey, are you okay?” I asked.

Instead of vocally answering, the girl just ran off down the corridor we arrived in.

“That’s a no then.” I said.

 

==CON==

 

After Rose ran, I decided to talk to someone I had been meaning to. I walked up to the Face of Boe, hoping my face wasn’t in as big a grin as I feared. “Hi.”

The Face of Boe smiled. _ “Hello Terra.” _ A deep voice spoke in my mind.  _ “What is it you wished to speak of?” _

I laughed. “Nothing much, just thought I’d come talk to the man who sponsored the Doctor and Rose’s first date.” I complimented. “I trained you well.”

You could see Jack’s grin, underneath all the millennia of age and heartbreak.  _ “What makes you believe it was you that trained me?” _

“Um, have you met me?” I asked. “Me? Terra Johnson.”

_ “Yes. I know who you are.” _ Jack said.

My jaw dropped. “Oh, don’t you  _ dare _ quote Harriet Jones to me.”

_ “I just did.” _ The Face of Boe paused.  _ “You were always able to bring out the child in me.” _

“It’s a talent.” I joked. “Even if I could, I wouldn’t stop.”

The Face of Boe tilted his head, something I once though impossible but Jack takes that word and...well...ya know.  _ “It’s been so long, Terra, since last we met. I was starting to think I would never see you again.” _

“Who told you that nonsense?” I scoffed. “I’m never leaving you alone, Buttface.” I paused at the sudden nickname. “Oh. That was terrific, and it came naturally.”

_ “I thought I would lose that when I lost my head.”  _ The Face of Boe sighed.

“You still have that butt shaped chin.” I reminded him, grinning cheekily. Checking my watch, I made my way to the door. “Sorry, Buttface. Work is calling.”

_ “Until next time, Terra Johnson.” _ The Face of Boe said.

_ ‘You better believe it, Captain.’ _ I winked, running off after Raffalo.

It took a moment to find her, and I was just in time. She was about to crawl into the vent. 

“Did a blonde girl just walk through here?” I asked Raffalo. She pulled herself out of the vent, blinking in uncertainty. “You have permission to talk.”

Raffalo smiled kindly. “Yes. She went that way.” Raffalo pointed off into the distance. 

“Thank ya kindly.” I turned to run after Rose, then back to the blue woman. She was about to crawl back into the vent. “Actually, could I have your help with something?” There was a distinct tapping noise coming from the vent, like something robotic crawling around.

“Just a moment, miss. I think there’s something in there.” Raffalo commented.

“Oh my Story!” I groaned, trying to sound embarrassed. Raffalo turned to me, curious. “That might be something of mine. My gifts to the others. They got out of their box.” I lied easily.

The blue plumber’s slit eyes widened. “My goodness! Did you report it?”

“That’s the thing. I wanna keep it on the hush hush.” I leaned in closer to Raffalo. “It’s impolite on my planet to reveal a gift before it’s been opened. If I tell security, they’ll end up telling the guests. I can’t go against the traditions of my planet, ya know?”

Raffalo nodded, although she still looked a bit uncomfortable. “It’s alright, miss. I can just-”

“No!” I pulled her away from the vent. She looked at me in slight horror. “Uh. Their robot pets. I installed them to protect their new masters, the other guests. They’ll see you and attack.” I walked to the vent, getting ready to crawl in. “I’ll get them back. You can go tell management it’s been repaired.”

“Miss, I have to report-” Raffalo started.

“I’ll just take a second.” I promised, climbing into the vent. I crawled after the robot spiders before she could argue. Two of the robots crawled around the corner, I grinned confidently at them.

They chittered, and hissed. I pulled out the ball the Adherent gave the Doctor. “Simple robots, means stupid.” I opened the orb with a quick press on the side. Before the other spider could get it’s bearing, I ripped off it’s head. The other two spiders appeared at the end of the corridor. “Aw. So sorry, boys.”

The orb should give off a sort of connecting signal, like bluetooth devices connecting to other bluetooth devices. The spiders would think I was another robot, giving me a chance to break them down and stuff them in my bag.

“Miss?” Raffalo asked. “Is everything alright?”

“I’m fine!” I called back to her, crawling myself up to the robot spiders. They seemed docile, and they weren’t any red dots on my chest. That’s good. “Everything’s terrific!”

I grabbed two of the bots my the head, yanking them off with little effort. Time Lady biology came in handy, and spared me the use of a hammer. The other two tried fighting for their fallen comrades, but it only made it easier for me to catch them.

“Are you sure? It doesn’t sound like it.” Raffalo said.

I grabbed one of them, smashing it into the other one. It was downed long enough for me to take out spider number four. “Uh, nothing I can’t handle!” I grabbed the fifth, but it had learned where his brothers had failed. I grunted in annoyance, grabbing the legs of one of the other spiders.

With quick precision, I stabbed Spider Number Five in the head with his brother’s leg. It didn’t cut thru the steal, but it made the spider drop his guard and give me access to it’s head.

The parts of all the robots were stuffed into the ball, then into my bag (I’d have a hell of a hard time getting them out later), and I crawled back out of the vent to a worried Raffalo. “There, ya see? Not a scratch.”

Raffalo did looked pleased that I was alright. “I’ll still have to check to make sure they didn’t damage anything.”

I nodded. “Go ahead.” I gestured into the vent. “Just, ya know, keep this quiet. I don’t want the others to know I wrecked the gifts.”

_ “Would the owner of the blue box in private gallery fifteen please report to the Steward’s office immediately.”  _ The steward’s voice came from overhead.  _ “Guests are reminded that use of teleportation devices is strictly forbidden under Peace Treaty five point four slash cup slash sixteen. Thank you.” _

“That’ll be me.” I sighed, smiling. “Gotta run.”

Raffalo smiled kindly. “And thank you for the permission, most aren’t that considerate.”

I shrugged it off, getting ready to head to Gallery Fifteen. “Everyone deserves to be heard.” I said as a goodbye, running to the Gallery.

 

==CON==

 

_ “Earth death in twenty-five minutes. Earth death in twenty five minutes.” _

I was skipping down the hallway, hands in my pockets and whistling a random tune from  _ Phineas and Ferb _ . The Doctor was instructing the Oompa Loompas.

“Oi, now, careful with that.” The Doctor said, keeping a close eye on the group. “Park it properly. No scratches.”

I walked up to his side, watching with interest. One of the Oompa Loompa’s handed him a business card.

“Oh. There you are.” The Doctor said. “Thought you’d be with Rose. What do you think?” He asked.

“It’s interesting.” I said, stuffing my hands in my pockets to keep them from being idle. “Speaking of Rose, have you seen her?”

The Doctor knew I had a good point, he just didn’t say it. He walked off into Gallery Fifteen.

“Rose? Are you in there?” We found Rose sitting on the stairs, the potted plant at her side. The ball was thankfully in my bag, holding some of the broken spiders bits. Those spare parts might come in handy later, you never know. The Doctor practically bounced onto the ledge, while I sat beside Rose. “Aye, aye. What do you think, then?”

“Great.” Rose said, uncertainly. “Yeah, fine. Once you get past the  _ slightly _ psychic paper. They’re just so alien.”

I nodded, adding a small chuckle. “Wanna know something cool? To them,  _ we’re _ the aliens.” Rose blinked, apparently that hadn’t crossed her mind yet. “Rose, I know this all seems a bit much, but it really isn’t. Alien is just a fancy term for something you don’t understand.”

“But you just look at them, and they’re alien.” Rose stressed.

The Doctor stared at Rose for a second. “Good thing I didn’t take you two to the Deep South.” He joked.

I didn’t laugh, cause that was where I was from. Born in Tulsa, Oklahoma, moved to Charleston, South Carolina when I was three. That was my home until I turned ten, then I lived all over the place. Santa Barbara, Quantico, New York City, Hawaii, a ton more, and now I can add London.

Still, I was from the south. It was Home, with it’s overly sweet tea and biscuits and flapjacks and the colloquialisms. Oh, and apple pie. I’ve had this tongue and month and I have not had an apple pie!

That comment on the Deep South seemed to spark Rose’s curiosity. “Where are you from?”

“All over the place.” The Doctor evaded the question, looking down at his hands in what I could see was slight shame.

Rose turned to me. She must not have grasped the Doctor’s shame face yet. “And you?”

I leaned forward, resting my elbows on my legs. “Deep South.” I joked. It got a laugh from the Doctor. I grinned. My head turned to the Doctor, curious. “Uh, more of a side note. They were all speaking English.”

That was all the prompting the Doctor needed. He turned to us with a face of a child being asked what he wanted for his birthday. “No, you just  _ hear  _ English. It’s a gift of the TARDIS. The telepathic field, gets inside your brain and translates.”

“Hold on what?” I reeled back.

“It’s inside our brains?” Rose asked, shocked.

“Well, in a good way.” The Doctor assured.

Just by mentioning it, I could feel a different presence in my mind. My first mind assault had been when I was a young child, getting into fantasy books. The attack inspired me to keep mental defenses up at all times, most of them kept up so long it was second nature to have them there. I didn’t like the idea of someone else in my mind where they weren’t wanted.

After my jump to  _ Thirty Days of Night _ , I became a bit paranoid on the subject. I was wary around all magic creatures, or ones with telepathic abilities. That was why Logan’s attack had me so jaded. He was able to not only break apart my walls, but Future Terra’s as well. The walls had been rebuilt, stronger this time (I hoped). The number virtually doubled, except for the ones I didn’t put in. I don’t really know how to get those to stop.

But now, I could feel her. My mindscape looked a bit like a blackness, filled with dark pink and yellow storm clouds. Now there was a blue cloud in the midst, floating about and changing other clouds around it. The TARDIS must have gotten in when my guard was lowered, so probably when we landed and I adjusted to my Time Sense.

Future Terra had said the TARDIS would get inside my mind, but that she wasn’t a harm. She saw what I was, what I was doing, and would help. Like a sister, Future Terra had said. Besides, the TARDIS would rarely hurt anyone intentionally. The thing that made it so uncomfortable for me was that there was an unlocked door open in my mind for translations and whatever else the TARDIS fancied.

And once a door is open, anyone can get it.

I stood up, pointing an angry finger at the Doctor. “The TARDIS got inside Rose and I’s head, then changed it. That  _ is _ the bad way!”

The Doctor’s smile dropped into a frown. “I didn’t think about it like that.”

“No, you were too busy thinking up cheap shots about the Deep South, Terra’s home.” The words came out in a cold sort of bite. I was a bit surprised Rose came to my defense so easily. Nevertheless, I moved a bit farther away from the angry blonde. “Who are you, then, Doctor? What are you called? What sort of alien are you?” 

“I’m just the Doctor.” The Doctor said, sitting up.

“From what planet?” Rose went on.

The Doctor laughed. “Well, it’s not as if you’ll know where it is!”

“Where are you from?” Rose asked, talking down to him.

“What does it matter?” The Doctor asked.  _ ‘For a guy who hates domestics, he really knows how to get wrapped up in one.’ _

“Tell us who you are!”

“This is who I am, right here, right now, all right?” The Doctor said in his  _ ‘go to your room’  _ voice. “All that counts is here and now, and this is me.”

“Yeah, and we’re here too because you brought us here, so just tell us!” Rose shouted.

The Doctor got up, storming down the stairs. He stared down at the soon to be dying Earth, shoulders squared. I nervously scratched the back of my neck, trying to find a way out of this awkward situation.

_ “Earth Death in twenty minutes. Earth Death in twenty minutes.” _

That’ll do it. Rose and I went down the stairs, her standing at Doctor’s left and me at his right. 

Rose sighed, rocking on the balls of her feet. “Alright. As my mate Shareen says,  _ don’t argue with the designated driver _ .”

The Doctor shook his head in amusement. I rolled my eyes, grinning.  _ ‘It’s funny, because the designated driver is usually me and now it’s the Doctor.’ _

Rose took out her mobile phone, holding it up Lion King style. “Can’t exactly call for a taxi. There’s no signal.” She paused. “We’re out of range. Just a bit.”

“Tell you what.” The Doctor took her phone, pulling it apart. “With a little bit of jiggery pokery.” He pulled out the battery.

“Is that a technical term, jiggery pokery?” Rose teased, standing just a bit closer to the Doctor.

“Yeah, I came first in jiggery pokery.” The Doctor went along with it, standing closer to her in return. He looked to Rose and I. “What about you?”

“No, I failed hullabaloo.” The blonde smirked.

“Passed it with muchness.” I said, quoting  _ Alice in Wonderland _ . “And a bit of futterwacken.”

The Doctor smirked at the banter. He replaced the battery in Rose’s phone, clicking the back onto the phone. “Oh. There you go.” The girl looked at him in confusion, but the Time Lord insisted.

Rose turned to me, then looked at the Doctor. “What about her? Shouldn’t she get one of these too?”

It surprised me, a bit. That certainly made it easier for me. I pulled out the phone I brought with me, my dad’s old flip Motorola. It was fully charged, thanks to the stores actually having the parts. I held it towards him.

The Doctor took the phone, a bit forceful. With a smug grin, he put in the new battery on. Once the upgrade was applied he handed it back to me.

I flipped it open, giving him a wary look. I pressed the button to call my only friend.

She answered in just a few rings.  _ “Zup bitch.” _ She sounded older, not the teenager I had last seen her as.

I laughed. This was actually working. That meant Darcy was somewhere in this world, which meant I would have to bring her here and risk universal safety. Terrific. “I’m good. What trouble have you caused?” I asked, keeping mind of the two people possibly eavesdropping on my conversation.

Darcy snorted. She had apparently been expecting this.  _ “Nothing too bad. Promise.”  _ Darcy said.  _ “When are you?” _

“Oh, I’m at the  _ End Of the World _ .” I answered, shrugging my shoulders.

Darcy apparently didn’t get the reference.  _ “Could you...could you be more specific? That’s every day for us.” _

My eyes rolled, and I held back a groan. “The sun gets roasted five  _ billion _ years in the future, future of humanity is a flap of skin, Face of Boe. I must have told you about this in the future.” I reminded her, boredly. “You sure you have brain cells in your head?”

_ “I feel the love.” _ Darcy joked. _ “It’s just that literally happens all the time in this reality. The aliens every Christmas, Downing street blowing up, the day where the universe literally stopped happening and there had to be a Big Bang Two. Don’t even get me started on River’s wedding! The world’s always ending, at least according to the middle aged. Like you, my bitch.” _

“My witch.” I shot back. It had been our little game, ever since in one reality I was a werewolf and she was a witch. The nicknames stuck. “Where are you?”

_ “What, so you can punch me in the face for calling you middle aged?” _ Darcy snorted.

“Pretty much, yeah.”

A pause.  _ “Torchwood Three jail cells. Jack doesn’t like me much.” _

Oh, that was a twist. “How did you make  _ him _ angry?” I asked, shocked. “You would think the two of you would be handcuffed to a bed or something.”

_ “Yeah, hehe. That  _ might _ be why he doesn’t like me.”  _ Darcy admitted, awkwardly.

My eyes sharpened into a glare. She had sex with Jack Harkness, the man who couldn’t die... “Tell me you didn’t do it  _ ‘Darcy Style’ _ .”

Before Darcy could answer, Rose just started laughing beside me. I rolled my eyes in glee. Her joy was infectious. “We’ll talk this later. Don’t start a fire without me.” I warned Darcy, an old inside joke.

_ “Too late.” _ She joked, her usual way of saying goodbye. The phone clicked, signalling she had hung up on me. I snorted, pushing my phone into my bag.

“Think that’s amazing, you want to see the bill.” The Doctor said sarcastically.

“That was five billion years ago.” Rose said, slowly. “So, she’s dead now. Five billion years later, my mum’s dead.”

“Oh you’re just a _ ray _ of sunshine, aren’t you?” I snarked, stuffing my hands into my hoodie pocket.

The space station shook suddenly. It wasn’t enough to send us to our feet, but enough to grab our attention. “That’s not supposed to happen.” The Doctor said, smiling.

“How did I know he was gonna say that?” I grumbled, trying to be funny. Rose gave me an slightly scared look, as if searching of assurance. I could only shrug back.

“Honored guests may be reassured that gravity pockets may cause slight turbulence, thanking you.” The Steward broadcasted.

The three of us exchanged looks. The Doctor ran out of the room, me following excitedly after him.

 

==CON==

 

The Doctor walked into the observation deck, going to one of the panels. “That wasn’t a gravity pocket. I know gravity pockets and they don’t feel like that.” He pressed some buttons, turning behind us. “What do you think, Jabe? Listened to the engines. They’ve pitched up about thirty Hertz. That dodgy or what?”

Jabe shrugged, then smiled slyly at the Doctor. “It’s the sound of metal. It doesn’t make any sense to me.”

The Doctor nodded. Honestly, he should have been expecting that. “Where’s the engine room?”

“I don’t know, but the maintenance duct is just behind our guest suite.” Jabe offered. “I could show you and your wife.” She looked to Rose.

I immediately laughed, then covered it up with a cough. Rose glared at me in embarrassment.

“Oh, and your sister.” Jabe added.

I gave Jabe a shocked look. That made Rose laugh. Okay, I deserved that. I laughed at her for being Mrs. Doctor, she can laugh at me for being his sister. Holy shit. I have no idea who I was on Gallifrey. There’s a chance I could actually  _ be _ his sister! I’m so fucked.

The Doctor had this sudden frown on his face. “She’s not my wife, and she is not my sister.” He said, sounding sure of himself.

“Partner, and daughter?” 

“No.”

At this point, Rose and I were thoroughly humiliated.

“Concubine and cousin?”

“Nope.”

“Prostitute and ward?”

“Whatever we are it must be invisible. Do you mind?” Rose snapped. I would too, if a tree from the future called me a whore. “Tell you what, you two go and pollinate. I’m going to catch up with family.” She pointed at Cassandra. “Quick word with Michael Jackson.” She made her way.

“I’m gonna stay here.” A grin came to my face, politely nodding at Jabe. “I don’t wanna catch what the skin flap has.”

“Don’t start a fight.” The Doctor advised, wrapping an arm around Jabe’s..

“Or start a fire, without me!” I warned, wrapping my arm around Jabe’s other free one.

“We’re all yours.” The Doctor said, politely.

The doors opened, letting us walk through.

“And I want you home by midnight.” Rose said.

“Not a chance, sunshine!” I replied cheekily.

_ “Earth Death in fifteen minutes. Earth Death in fifteen minutes.” _

 

==CON==

 

The maintenance shaft was just a bit colder than Jabe’s room, though being a tree I guess she needed it to be warm.

The Doctor walked in first, I was second, and then Jabe. I couldn’t see any robot spiders, though I had taken a good number of them down. It didn’t hurt to check anyway, I had only taken down five. There was no way of knowing how many Cassandra had as extras.

“Who’s in charge of Platform One?” The Doctor asked Jabe. “Is there a Captain or what?”

“There’s just the Steward and the staff.” Jabe answered. “All the rest is controlled by the metal mind.”

“That’s the computer, I’m guessing.” I said. “But who controls that?”

“The Corporation.” Jabe explained. She probably didn’t care for our questions, especially since the Doctor have her  _ air from his lungs _ . “They move Platform One from one artistic event to another.”

“But there’s no one from the Corporation on board.” The Doctor pointed out.

“They’d have been announced.” I added.

“They’re not needed. This facility is purely automatic.” Jabe said, almost with pride. “It’s the height of the Alpha class. Nothing can go wrong.”

The Doctor and I turned to her, surprised. “Unsinkable?”

“If you like. The nautical metaphor is appropriate.” Jabe said.

I scoffed. “I hate when people say that.”

“You’re telling me.” The Doctor agreed with me. “I was on board another ship once. They said that was unsinkable. I ended up clinging to an iceberg. It wasn’t half cold.”

I turned to Jabe, concerned. “So, what you’re saying is, if we get in trouble there’s no one to help us out?”

Jabe blinked. The idea had never occurred to her. “I’m afraid not.”

“Fantastic.”

“Terrific.”

The two of us kept walking, a confused Jabe behind us. “I don’t understand. In what way is that fantastic or terrific?”

 

==CON==

 

“So tell me, Jabe, what’s a tree like you doing in a place like this?” The Doctor said after a few minutes of silence.

“Respect for the Earth.” The tree woman answered.

“Oh, come on.” The Doctor scoffed. “Everyone on this platform’s worth zillions.”

“Well, perhaps it’s a case of having to be seen at the right occasions.” Jabe admitted.

“In case your share prices drop?” The Doctor said. “I know you lot. You’ve got massive forests everywhere, roots everywhere, and there’s always money in land.”

“ _ Or _ .” I said. “She’s a tree, saying goodbye to her ancestral home.”

Jane smiled. “Yes. My ancestors were transplanted from the planet down below, and I’m a direct descendant of the tropical rainforest.” The tree woman tilted her head. “How did you know?”

“Your room was as hot as that jungle.” I said, shrugging my shoulders back. 

The Doctor walked up to a panel, blocking my path. “Excuse me.” He moved the sonic over the panel, causing various readings to flash across. One kept coming up, blocking out access.

“And what about your ancestry, Doctor? Perhaps you could tell a story or two. Perhaps a man only enjoys trouble when there’s nothing else left.” Jabe had caught the Doctor’s interest, but he ignored her.

I took a look at his face, seeing him try to focus on the panel but getting lost in memories. It was weird, I usually had at least one memory from my first self. That was strange. I should be having some vague memories of red grass, and silver trees under an orange sky...

Or, I should be remembering something from her life on Earth. Her moms, or aunt, maybe even just walking down the street. Yet, nothing.

“I scanned you earlier. The metal machine had trouble identifying your species. It refused to admit your existence.” Jabe went on. My frown deepened seeing the Doctor become less and less interested on the panel.

“And even when it named you, I wouldn’t believe it. But it was right.” Jabe said.  “I know where you’re from.” I turned to her, putting on a face of shock. “Forgive me for intruding, but it’s remarkable that you even exist. I just wanted to say...how sorry I am.”

She gripped his arm in a show of comfort. I could only watch in slight awe as the last of the Time Lords didn’t shove her away, placing his hand over her’s.

I didn’t know what to do. Hugs had never been a specialty, same for whatever Jabe was doing. Instead, I walked up to the Doctor’s side, and gave him a smile saying I wouldn’t tell a soul.

The Last Time Lord jumped back to the panel, shoving down the tears in his old blue eyes.

A nearby door opened, revealing to us a giant room filled with motors and giant fans.

“Is it me, or is it a bit nippy?” The Doctor asked us.

“A bit, yeah.” I said. “I like it. Cold goes good with this outfit.”

The Doctor walked over to the wall, using the sonic. “Fair do’s, though, that’s a great bit of air conditioning. Sort of nice and old fashioned. Bet they call it retro.”

I nodded, looking across it. They looked easy enough to run through now, but I knew they would get faster later.

The Doctor pulled the wall off. “Gotcha.” A robot spider leapt out, crawling up the walls faster than I could catch it.

“What the hell’s that?” The Doctor asked.

“Is it part of the  _ retro _ ?” Jabe asked.

“Safe to assume it isn’t.” I advised.

The Doctor brought out the sonic. “Hold on.”

Jabe held out her arm, a vine shooting out to whack the robot. It felt into my hand, offline. 

“Hey, nice liana.” The Doctor complimented.

“Thank you.” Jabe turned a darker brown. “We’re not supposed to show them in public.”

I mimed zipping my lips. “Secret’s safe with us.” I promised, adding a wink. 

“Now then, who’s been bringing their pets on board?” The Doctor asked, looking down at the spider.

“What does it do?” Have asked.

“Sabotage.” The Doctor and I answered, still watching the spider.

_ “Earth Death in ten minutes.” _

Our heads snapped up. “And the temperature’s about to rocket.” The Doctor said. “Come on.”

We started running, heading to the Steward’s office.

_ “Earth Death in ten minutes.” _

 

==CON==

 

The door was covered in smoke, and guarded by the Oompa Loompas.

“Hold on. Get back.” The Doctor said. I held back Jabe. She could still get hurt by this much sunlight.

The Doctor pulled out his sonic, working his way thru the tiny crowd. He pressed it on the panel beside the door.  _ “Sun filter rising. Sun filter rising.” _

“Is the Steward in there?!” Jabe asked me.

“I’m sorry, Jabe, but you can smell him.” I said, giving her a reassuring look. “They took out the Steward to 

“Hold on, there’s another sun filter programmed to descend.” The Doctor informed.

My eyes widened.  _ ‘Rose!’ _

I tossed the spider at Jabe. “Use the scanner. See how many of these things are onboard. We’ll meet you at the observation deck.”

Jabe nodded, going off to do her assignment.

The Doctor and I ran away from the Steward’s office, heading for Gallery 15.

The Doctor started on the panel. “Anyone in there?”

_ “Let me out!”  _ Rose shouted.

“Oh, well, it would be you.” The Doctor commented.

_ “Open the door!”  _ Rose shouted in a panic.

“Hold on. Give us two ticks.” The Doctor said, somehow sounding completely calm.

“How does she go from talking to the flap to getting burned alive?” I thought out loud. “She might have made whoever is attacking this base angry, and they locked her in here. It’s the only way they could know the filter would go down.”

The Doctor nodded, a hard look in his eyes. “You’re good at this.”

I shrugged. “It isn’t too big a leap.”

_ “Sun filter descending. Sun filter descending.”  _ I couldn’t breathe easy, especially when  _ “Sun filter rising. Sun filter rising.” _ My hands started fidgeting, unable to stay still in this situation. _ “Sun filter rising. Sun filter rising. Sun filter descending.” _

“Just what we need.” The Doctor shook his head. He turned to me. “The computer’s getting clever.”

I grunted, rolling my eyes.  _ “Stop mucking about!” _ Rose shouted.

“We’re not mucking about.” The Doctor said. “It’s fighting back.”

_ “Open the door!” _

“We know!”

There was a pause.  _ “The lock’s melted!” _

The sun filter went back and forth, until the Doctor stuck his screwdriver into the inner workings. The computer couldn’t fight the commands anymore, letting the filter rise.

I ran to the door. It should have opened automatically at my presence. “The whole thing’s jammed!” I told Rose, getting pissed.

The Doctor walked up beside me, looking just as irritated. “We can’t open the doors. Stay there! Don’t move!”

_ “Where are am I going to go, Ipswich?”  _ Rose said.

_ “Earth Death in five minutes.” _

We stormed off to the observation deck. There was only one person who could have done this; the last person Rose talked to.

 

==CON==

 

Jabe was telling the observation deck of the danger. “The metal machine confirms. The spider devices have infiltrated the whole of Platform One.”

The room gasped, the Doctor and I were scanning the crowd for anything off. 

“How’s that possible?” Cassandra asked. She wasn’t fooling me. Right now, she was the last thing to talk to Rose. That made her the prime suspect. “Our private rooms are protected by a code wall. Moisturise me, moisturise me.” The Doctor took the spider back.

“Summon the Steward.” The Moxx requested.

“I’m afraid the Steward is dead.” Jabe said.

This was even more unsettling for the officials of the room. “Who killed him?” Moxx asked.

“This whole event was sponsored by the Face of Boe. He invited us.” Cassandra pushed away blame. “Talk to the Face. Talk to the Face.”

I glared at the skin flap. How  _ dare _ she falsely accuse Jack of this!

_ ‘Be calm, Terra.’ _ The Face of Boe spoke in my mind.  _ ‘We can’t panic.’ _

_ ‘Well I do what I like, so shut up.’ _

“Easy way of finding out. Someone bought their little pet on board.” He held up the spider for everyone to see. He switched it on, placing it on the marble. “Let’s send him back to master.”

It scuttled off towards Cassandra, then turned to the Adherents.

“The Adherents of the Repeated Meme. J’accuse!” Cassandra glared (the only thing she could really show) at the Adherents.

“That’s all very well, and really kind of obvious, but if you stop and think about it.” The Doctor said.

“Right.” I walked up to the Adherents. One raised it’s arm at me. “A Repeated Meme is just an idea.” I pulled the arm off. The others in the room watched in horror as I held the arm up. “And that’s all these guys are.” Tossing the arm aside, I looked over at Cassandra. “An idea.”

Cassandra seemed on edge now.

I reached up, noticing the wires that were dangling from the Adherents. Reaching out, I pulled it like it was a pull string on a toy.

“Ah! Remote control droids! Haven’t seen those in a while. Perfect cover for the real trouble maker. I should know.” I gave the spider droid a nudge. “Go on, buddy, go on home.”

The spider did as such, crawling over towards Cassandra. 

The skin flap glared at me. “I bet you were the school swots and never got kissed. At arms!”

The attendants around her aimed their guns at the Doctor and I. I rolled my eyes, pulling my arms up to my chest like I was scared. The Doctor pulled the same position beside me. “Oh no! What are you going to do, moisturise me?” The Doctor asked, saying the last part with sarcastic flare.

Cassandra grinned. “With acid.”

“I hear that really cleans up your pores.” I snarked.

“Oh, you’re too late, anyway.” The skin flap said. “My spiders have control of the mainframe. Oh, you all carried them as gifts, tax free, past every code wall. I’m not just as pretty face.” She explained, smug.

“Sabotaging a ship while you’re still inside it?” The Doctor said. “How stupid’s that?”

“I’d hoped to manufacture a hostage situation with myself as one of the victims.” Cassandra said. “The compensation would have been  _ enormous _ .”

“Five billion years and it still comes down to money.” The Doctor said, almost ashamed of them.

Cassandra scoffed. “Do you think it’s cheap, looking like this? Flatness costs a fortune. I am the last human, Doctor, Terra. Me. Not that freaky little kid of yours.”

“That’s why you had her killed.” I said, wondering if she would admit to it in front of witnesses.

Cassandra smiled. “Well, I couldn’t have her running about, spreading lies, could I?”

I glared. Now, when she started creaking, my conscience would be clear. The Doctor was hiding his anger too.

“Arrest her, the infidel-” Moxx began, pointing one of his tiny blue fingers at the flap.

“Oh, shut it, pixie. I’ve still got my final option.” Cassandra said. We were curious for barely a second.

_ “Earth Death in three minutes.” _

I stared at Cassandra in horror. “And here it comes.”

“Your spiders control the sun filters.” I said. “They can turn off the filters and roast us all.” The room gasped.

“You’re just as useful dead, all of you.” The skin flap said, smug as ever. “I have shares in your rival companies and they’ll triple in price as soon as you’re dead. My spiders are primed and ready to destroy the safety systems. How did that old Earth song go? Burn, baby, burn.”

Jabe glared. “Then you’ll burn with us.” She said fiercely. Everyone nodded in agreement.

“Oh, I’m so sorry. I know the use of teleportation is strictly forbidden, but I’m such a naughty thing.” Cassandra said, her voice turning cold. “Spiders, activate.”

The slave station shook, and multiple explosions could be heard. The red alert lights blared, along with the siren. I almost growled.

“Forcefields gone with the planet about to explode.” The skin flap informed. I fixed my hair, the headband having come out of place in the explosions. “At least it’ll be quick. Just like my fifth husband. Oh, shame on me.” 

_ “Safety systems failing.” _

“Bye, bye, darlings.” Cassandra said. Her attendants walked to her side. She teleported out. “Bye, bye, my darlings.”

_ “Heat levels rising.” _

“Reset the computer.” Moxx suggested.

“Only the Steward would know how.” Jabe said.

“And his computers burned to hoop in his office.” I added.

“No. We can do it by hand.” The Doctor said, walking out. “There must be a system restore switch. Terra, Jabe, come on. You lot, just  _ chill _ .”

 

==CON==

 

The computer kept giving us warnings. I just ran faster, getting ahead of the Doctor. 

I spotted the switch, groaning. “Hey Doc.” He walked up behind me. “I’ll give you three guesses where the switch is. And two of them don’t count.”

The Doctor looked through the now spinning fans of death. He marched to a nearby panel, pulling down on the lever.

_ “Heat levels rising. Heat levels rising.” _

The fans slowed to the speed from earlier, then kicked backup once the Doctor let go.

_ “External temperature five thousand degrees.” _

I pulled the lever down, Jabe coming to help. “You can’t. The heat’s going to vent through this place.”

Jabe grinned. “I know.”

“Jabe, you’re made of wood.” The Doctor agreed.

“Then stop wasting time,  _ Time Lord _ .” Jabe said.

The Doctor smiled at us.

I pressed down on the lever, just a bit harder. “This second this goes bad, you run.”

Jabe only smiled.

_“Heat levels rising. Heat levels rising._ _Heat levels hazardous. Heat levels hazardous._

After a long pause, the Doctor jumped through the first fan. He paused at the next one, waiting for the right time to jump.

_ “Heat levels critical. Heat levels critical.” _

The Doctor looked back at us, then leapt thru the next fan. I sniffed, smelling smoke.

“Jabe, get out of here!” I ordered, pressing down on the lever. “You’ll burn!”

The tree woman paused. I shoved her aside. “Go!” I shouted. The tree woman ran back the way we came. 

_ “Heat levels rising. Heat levels rising.” _

The Doctor looked back to me, seeing Jabe run off. I glared at him. “Keep moving!”

_ “Planet explodes in ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five.” _

The Doctor walked through the last fan.

“About damn time.” I commented, wincing. This thing was starting to get hot. I pulled my hand away, looking down to see them bright red with burns.

_ “Four.” _

“Raise shields!” The Doctor shouted.

With a sigh, I waved at the Doctor. The fans were slowing down as well, slow enough for the Doctor to walk through in a brisk pace. 

I pushed my hands into my pocket, ignoring the sting. There was a balm in my bag I’m sure I could use, or maybe my Time Lady biology would be repairing it.

The Doctor walked up, looking down at my hands. “Let’s go get Rose.” I said.

“That lever was burning at critical levers.” The Doctor pointed out.

“Rose. Fire. Death.” I reminded him, walking towards the exit.

The Doctor grabbed my arm. The action surprised me, giving him the chance to pull my hand out. It was bright red, and painful once exposed to the air. I hissed in pain, pulling it out of his grasp. 

“Rose was in danger. We can meet her in the observation deck, she probably went there.” Without waiting for him, I stormed off. I heard him follow behind me.

 

==CON==

 

There  _ was _ some burn cream in my bag, so I got to work with First-Aid-On-The-Go. When working alone or with a sister, you needed to know how to fix your wounds.

The burn cream was settling, so I wrapped them in gauze. The cream was the best magic based one I could find, one of my own making in a potion’s class. The cream would have my wounds all fixed by  _ Unquiet Dead. _

I arrived at the observation deck, the Doctor a few seconds behind me. He glanced at my bandaged hands, which were fixing my headband. It had gotten loose during all of the chaos again, and having my choppy hair in my face pissed me off.

There was a smoking pit where the Moxx’s chair had been. I internally winced at the loss, he had been a good guy. He spat in Rose’s face. That was rather nice.

Jabe was standing with her people. There wasn’t any smoke on her hands, though they looked just a bit blacker than before. 

Rose turned to us. Somewhere along the night she lost her jacket. “You alright?” Rose asked us, though she paid attention to my burned hands.

“Terrific.” I said, tucking the hands into my jean pockets.  _ ‘But by the Story, I could use a drink.’ _

“Yeah, I’m fine.” The Doctor walked up to me. “I’m full of ideas, I’m bristling with them. Idea number one, teleportation through five thousand degrees needs some kind of feed.” He glared at the ostrich egg, marching over to it. “Idea number two, this feed must be hidden nearby.” 

He smashed the egg on the table top. I almost flinched back. I could understand him being angry on the show, because of Jabe’s death. She was alive now, so I guess Rose nearly being burned alive hits him harder now than before.

Or, maybe I was just denying the fact that he might actually care because the last people that did were risking their lives to fight a man who may or may not be dead. Maybe I was scared that Nine was angry over me, because that would only grow as time went on until he would become desperate enough to leave me alone in London, then go try and save my life.

I was scared he would see me as family, and then I would die. I was scared of doing to him what had been done to me. So, yeah. He was definitely angry over Cassandra trying to kill Rose.

“Idea number three.” The Doctor went on, twisting some wires about on the device. “If you’re as clever as me, then a teleportation feed can be reversed.”

We could ear her before we saw her. “Oh, you should have seen their little alien faces.” The skin flap was back, only without those attendants. She paused, realizing she was back here an facing the last Time Lord. “Oh.”

The Oncoming Storm glared. “The last human.”

“So, you passed my little test. Bravo.” Cassandra lied. I took a heavy breath, standing straighter behind the Doctor. “This makes you eligible to join, er, the Human Club.”

“People have died, Cassandra. You murdered them.” The Doctor spat.

Cassandra scoffed. “It depends on your definition of people, and that’s enough of a technicality to keep your lawyers dizzy for centuries.” Her skin was becoming dry, flaky. “Take me to court, then, Doctor, and watch me smile and cry and flutter.”

“And creak?” I called out.

“And what?” She blinked. You could hear it in the quiet of the room, her skin tightening in on itself.

“Creak.” I repeated, my voice playfully cold. “You’re creaking.”

“What?” More tracks went over her skin flap, easier to notice now. “Ah! I’m drying out!” She was panicking now. We had called her in to have her executed. “Oh, sweet heavens. Moisturise me, moisturise me! Where are my surgeons? My lovely boys! It’s too hot!”

Rose was looking at the flap with pity, something I couldn’t do in this instance. Cassandra would come back later in our lives, and try to kill us again. She had tried to murder us so she could stay rich, so she could afford the surgeries. Cassandra wasn’t human anymore, that much Rose had right. She gave it up.

“You raised the temperature.” The Doctor reminded her.

“Have pity! Moisturise me!” Cassandra pleaded. “Oh, oh, Doctor, Terra. I’m sorry. I’ll do anything.”

Rose went to the Doctor’s side. “Help her.” She asked.

“Everything has its time and everything dies.” The Doctor said, not taking his eyes off Cassandra.

“There’s nothing we can do.” I added.

“I’m too young!” She screeched, bursting into a puddle of Cassandra goop.

The Doctor walked out of the room, not giving either of us another glance.

 

==CON==

 

It had been a half hour before anything else happened. The others had all gone home, leaving just the Doctor, Rose, the TARDIS, and I. Rose was standing at the window, looking at the Earth debris. I was tossing the ball Cassandra had given me out. Apparently, ordering all the spiders to blow and still worked on the ones I had. The ball contained the blast, at least.

My burns were healing, not better, but healing. The cream had done it’s job, leaving only a faint sensation of warmth on my hand. It would be sore for the next few hours, so I should be cautious.

I was taking my bandages off when the Doctor walked back in. Getting to my feet, I walked with him to Rose’s side. 

“The end of the Earth.” Rose said. I stared forward, looking at all of what had been known as Earth. Somewhere amongst all of this, there was a Racnoss ship that was destroyed. “It’s gone. We were too busy saving ourselves. No one saw it go.” She was starting to get teary eyed, “All those years, all that history, and no one was even looking. It’s just.” The young girl stopped, unable to get the words out.

The Doctor held out his hands, to both of us. “Come with me.”

 

==CON==

 

Rose and I were guided into a street, packed with people. Faintly, you could hear a baby crying and a man shouting for a cab.

“You think it’ll last forever, people and cars and concrete, but it won’t. One day it’s all gone. Even the sky.” The Doctor said. The pain in his voice making me look at his face. “My planet’s gone. It’s dead. It burned like the Earth. It’s just rocks and dust before it’s time.”

“What happened?” Rose asked.

“There was a war and we lost.” The Doctor said simply

“A war with who?” Rose asked. The Doctor didn’t answer.

“What about your people?” I asked. “They were Time Lords, like Jabe said.”

“I’m the last of the Time Lords.” He answered me, looking me in the eyes.  _ ‘Oh Story, I wanna tell him right now. I want to tell him I found out I had a second heart, that I was left alone on this planet, I’ll tell him anything as long as he’ll stop looking at me like that.’ _ “They’re all gone. I’m the only survivor. I’m left travelling on my own ‘cos there’s no one else.”

“There’s us.” Rose said, bobbing her head at me. I hooked my arm around her’s, grinning at the Doctor.

“You’ve seen how dangerous it is.” The Doctor warned Rose. “Do you want to go home? Either of you?”

My answer didn’t come. I looked him right in the eyes, adding a smile. He couldn’t get rid of me with a few deep words and exploding planets. I was on the run, and traveling with the Doctor was better than being on my own.

Rose was still undecisive. “I don’t know. I want.” She suddenly stopped, looking around the large crowd around us. “Oh, can you smell chips?”

“Yeah. Yeah.” The Doctor chuckled at the complete 180.

“Story, I could use some food.” I moaned at the smell of fries.

“I want chips.” Rose decided.

“Me too.” He kept chuckling.

“Me third.” I held up a finger. “And you’re both insane if you think I’m waiting in line behind you.”

“Right then, before you get me back in that box, chips it is, and he can pay.” Rose smiled at the Doctor.

The Doctor shrugged, grinning. “No money.”

“What sort of date are you? Come on then, tightwad, chips are on me.” The three of us exchanged smiles of glee. “We’ve only got five billion years till the shops close.” She walked us down the street.

I smirked, following behind her into the chip shop.

 

==CON==

 

“You alright?” The Doctor asked.

I looked up at him, a bit miffed. He was disturbing a much wanted plate of fries and chocolate/peanut butter/banana milkshake. Not to mention I was about to break out my headphones to tune the world out. Anything to get my mind off the agitating sensation in my hands.

“Why are you asking?” I begrudgingly had some of my milkshake. The Doctor sat in the chair across from mine. I quirked my brow. “Go on. Take a seat.”

“Already did, thanks.” The Doctor said.

I grinned at the bit of humor. “I lied.” He quirked a brow. “When I told you I lived with my friends. I don’t have any friends.”

“You called someone on the phone.” The Doctor pointed out.

I shrugged. “Not exactly someone I’d put in the friend category.”  _ ‘More like: twin sister from another reality who likes to have sex and then kill the guy after.’ _ “And she’s about as homeless as I am.”

This seemed to appease the Doctor, but only slightly. He still had questions about me. “You had some serious burns on your hands.” The Doctor said. “Thought I would have to get you to the medbay to fix it.”

“She’s got a medbay too?” I deflected. “Next you’ll say she’s got bedrooms. Maybe even a tennis court.”

He grinned, then gave me a hard stare. “I was serious about the burns.”

I lifted my bag up, not taking it off but enough so he could see. “Had some burn cream in here. Used to work at a movie theatre, and you get burns there all the time. You learn to find the good stuff at the pharmacy.” I lied easily. “Now, can I get back to my milkshake?”

“You said that TARDIS had let you in.” The Doctor said after a pause.

Holding back the urge to roll my eyes, I sat up in my chair. “Yeah, and?”

“So, the TARDIS doesn’t let just anyone in. Especially when I locked her door.” The Doctor said, sounding nonchalant but I knew better. I was being interrogated.  _ ‘More like in _ Terra _ gated. Story, this needs to  _ _ stop _ _.’ _ “You need a key, a special kind of key. More than that, you knew where she was. I hadn’t exactly left her out in the street, she was hidden in an alleyway.”

I paused. That had been a thing I had forgotten about.

“So, why did she let you in?” The Doctor clarified.

There was a long tense pause. This was it. My make it or break it moment. “I was running from...from something. You were the only person I knew in town, and you were tracking the plastic, and the plastic was tracking Rose, so I tracked Rose to that restaurant. Finding the TARDIS was easy after that.”

The Doctor was concerned now. He sat up more in his seat, his shoulders broadened. “Running from what?”

I forced myself to stay calm. This was not the time or place to have a hissy fit. This was just me doing my job, doing what it took to keep  _ Him _ away from me. The note was tucked in my journal, stuffed between some of the random pages.

Breaking eye contact with the Doctor, I pulled it out of my bag. I tossed the note onto the table, tapping into that teenage apathy. My journal was put back in the bag, and I waited for the Doctor’s response.

He lifted the note, uncrumpling it. I paid close attention to his facial expressions as he read. It changed from curiosity to confusion to slow burning anger. That was when I knew he had gotten to the bottom. He looked up at me, an apologetic yet angry look on his face. “Do you know who sent it?”

I shook my head. “He taped it to the door of my old motel room. I thought I had gotten away, but a part of me was still paranoid about it. Seeing the note, I just started running again.”

“Again?” The Doctor pointed out.

I took a shaky breath. “The first time was a month ago. He.” I couldn’t say it. The words were in my mouth, but I just couldn’t get them out.

He murdered a family to get my attention. He kidnapped my future self, your future self, and the somehow alive Oswin, just to get me scared. He kidnapped me, my first self, then killed her. He killed me. I died a month ago. But anyway, here I was, alive. Nothing to show for it but a new scar.

It wasn’t the first time I had died, not by a long shot, yet I sometimes found myself staring at a new scar along my stomach from a knife wound. When I died, I went Home in bed. I would have nightmares for days, but alive. The only sign that anything happened was a scar from where I had been killed. There was a new one on my stomach, crossing with an old one to make an X shape.

X marks the spot, not exactly comforting. 

The Doctor brought me back to Earth. “Terra?”

“Huh?”

“What did he do?” The Doctor asked, something in his tone saying he was holding back. He had probably been calling for me repeatedly.

I took a shaky breath. “No.” I said, sitting up straighter in my chair. “I don’t want to talk about it.”

“Terra, this man could have killed you.” The Doctor said, pushing the paper towards me. “If you hadn’t been searching for that arm, you could have been killed.”

I held back a snort. Jokes on him, Logan already killed me. He’s probably killing my future self, Doc’s future self may not be far behind. I don’t even know what to think of Oswin. They could all be dying because of me.

“Would you want to talk about it?” I countered. Deflecting his questions with other questions seemed to be a good defense mechanism, if not obvious. “If he did to you what he’s done to me, you wouldn’t say a damn word.” My hand grabbed the note, pushing it back to him. “This wasn’t him saying he could kill me. This was him sending a message.”

“I can find you.” The Doctor tried.

“Keep your mouth shut.” I corrected, my voice serious. “I saw what he did. I’m a material witness to the crime. There’s nothing to really stop me from going to the authorities and reporting it.”

“Until you got the note.” The Doctor realized. I nodded. He looked at me, suspicious. “But you said a month passed before this. Why didn’t you go before?”

_ ‘Bad things happen to people who mess with time.’ _ I thought.  _ ‘Every reality I go, at least one person changes the timeline to catastrophic levels. Floods because you wouldn’t embarrass yourself, whole family dead because you cheated on a test, Reapers killing your Doctor because you saved your father. I don’t want to end up with something worse.’ _

None of this was said to the Doctor. It opened to many questions, plus it would make no sense. “I was a witness.” I said. My voice was surprisingly small, although looking back it wasn’t that odd.

“Exactly. You could have-”

“What he did was so horrifying, I could barely sleep that first week. I see him in shadows, late at night. I hear his voice when it’s too quiet. That’s why I was happy to find that living plastic group at that store. It gave me an outlet for my fear.” I interrupted the Doctor, words full of fear. It was a familiar feeling for Two, being so scared my voice came out panicky. “No one would believe me if I told them what happened. I’m just a kid, you said so when we met. I don’t even believe me!”

I forced myself to calm down. This was a public place, not a desirable place to start panicking. Panicking might not be the best way to convince Doc to let me stay.

“So.” I snatched the note away, tucking it back in my journal then into my bag. “We are  _ never  _ talking about it again.”

The Doctor paused, a glint in his eyes suggesting a new argument about to start.

“There you two are.” Rose sat beside the Doctor, a tray of fries in her hand. “Why’re you in the corner by yourself, Terra?”

_ ‘Because I’m scared to have my back facing a window, so this is the safest spot in the room.’  _ Of course, that wouldn’t be a good response from a somewhat eccentric fifteen year old to a nineteen year former shopgirl. “Dark corners are my natural habitat.” I joked, eating a couple of my fries.

Rose snorted. “Oh, really?”

I nodded, giving Doc one last meaningful glance. There was a chance he would bring it up in front of Rose, but then she would want to get involved and help me. That would end up with her dead, no question.

It was temporary, surely. Maybe til later, when he gets a better idea of who Rose is, can predict her movements enough to know when to tell her to stop. Maybe I’ll be lucky, and Ten will want to know. I have time, three lifetimes worth, to deal with Logan.

For now, I was gonna coast. Adventures with Nine, Rose  _ ‘Bad Wolf’ _ Tyler, later with Jack Harkness and Mickey Smith.

“So.” I asked, taking a bite of another fry. “Where to next, Doc?”


	5. The Unquiet Dead

The TARDIS was tilting and turning with turbulence. The Doctor was trying to pilot her, and failing. If I didn’t know any better, I’d say he was crashing. She was probably being difficult on purpose!

“Hold that one down!” The Doctor shouted at Rose.

“You told me to help Terra hold this one down.” Rose shouted back.

“I can handle it! Hold that one!” I ordered, keeping a firm grip on the lever.

Rose hopped over to it (the TARDIS had taken a firm lurch, so it was closer to a leap), pressing down on the button. “It’s not going to work.” She said.

“Oi! I promised you a time machine and that’s what you’re getting.” The Doctor argued. “Now, you’ve seen the future, let’s have a look at the past. 1860. How does 1860 sound?” He asked us.

“Whatever it takes to stop the shaking!”  _ ‘I want so badly to press the blue boring-ers, but this is kinda fun.’ _

“What happened in 1860?” Rose asked,

“I don’t know, let’s find out. Hold on, here we go!” The Doctor leaned over the console, pressing down on a button.

Of course, that caused us to lurch. It sent all three of us to the ground, having to just let the TARDIS coast along the vortex. The whirring noise faded after a moment...

...though the Doctor, Rose and I could barely hear it over our laughter.

“Woohoo!” I chuckled. I leapt up onto my feet, still laughing.

“Blimey!” Rose laughed, getting to her feet.

“You’re telling me. Are you alright?” The Doctor asked us, getting up to check the monitor.

“Yeah. I think so. Nothing broken.” Rose said.

“A-Okay.” I held up my thumb. I walked to his side, only able to see Gallifreyan circles on the computer screen. “Are all the flights that bumpy?”

“Sometimes. Depends.” The Doctor answered, typing on the monitor.

“Did we make it?” Rose walked up behind me. “Where are we?”

“I did it. Give the man a medal.” The Doctor boasted to us, proudly gesturing to the monitor. “Earth, Naples, December 24th, 1860.” He grinned, almost giggled, proud of himself. He leaned back, crossing his arms over his chest to keep his pride as bottled up as he could.

Rose shook her head. “That’s so weird. It’s Christmas.”

“That’s my favorite holiday.” I admitted, looking to the doors.

The Doctor held his arm out. “All yours.”

I grinned, walking towards it.

“But, it’s like, think about it, though.” Rose broke my happy thought. I groaned, tossing my head back. “Christmas. 1860. Happens once, just once and it’s gone, it’s finished, it’ll never happen again.”

“Then let’s go _ enjoy it _ !” I ran to Rose’s side, trying to drag her down.

This made the Doctor laugh. “I take you’re excited?”

I gave him a serious look. “Christmas means snow. Snow is magic. Magic is happy. I like being happy.” I turned Rose, pretending to pout. “Why are you stopping me from being happy, Rose?”

The blonde shook her head, laughing. “But Terra, really think. It’s Christmas there for one day, and then it’ll never happen again.” She looked to the Doctor. “Except for you.” She walked up to him, smiling. “You can go back and see days that are dead and gone a hundred thousand sunsets ago. No wonder you never stay still.”

I nodded, getting impatient. _ Dear Story, this was like waiting for my mother to quit talking with her friends at a dinner party. _

“Not a bad life.” The Doctor shrugged. I rolled my eyes. They were flirting  _ again _ . It’s cute, but I’m being kept from snow.

“Better with three.” Rose elbowed me, lightly. I made me smile. Come on, then.”

“Finally!” I sighed, running to the door.

“Hey, where do you think you’re going?” The Time Lord with a death wish called out, scandalized.

“An 1860 covered with snow.” I shouted.

“Go out there dressed like that, you’ll start a riot, Barbarella.” The Doctor taunted. I turned to him, glaring. “There’s a wardrobe through there.” He pointed at the back of the TARDIS. “First left, second right, third on the left, go straight ahead, under the stairs, past the bins, fifth door on your left. Hurry up!”

Rose caved, running to the back of the TARDIS. I was a bit slower, taking a break to punch his arm.

“Oi!”

“Next time, tell me to change  _ before _ telling me where we are.” I warned. The Doctor was rubbing the sore part of his arm, frowning at me. I started following after Rose. “Stupid rules of fashion.”

 

==CON==

 

The dress I had chosen a purple and red dress. There was a red corset around my midriff, although it wasn’t tight enough to choke me. The sleeves and chest area were dark purple, almost as dark as my hoodie (Now safely stored in my bigger-on-the- inside bag), and the sleeves were split at the elbow, leaving the arm guards exposed. The skirt was poofy, purple at first then changed to dark red at my ankles. Beneath I had on black leggings, and some red boots.

My hair was kept the same; choppy dark brown locks held back by a black headband. There was a necklace around my neck; a purple lollipop charm on a thin silver chain. It was a gift I had given my sister when we were younger, still unsure of the dynamic. She had one like it except her’s was pink.

The necklace made me feel more secure about this, about everything. It was like she was standing by my side, waiting to cause trouble. A part of me couldn’t wait to get back to her, the rest of me knew that Darcy and time travel were things that shouldn’t go together.  _ ‘And yet somehow, she ends up in the Torchwood Three dungeon.’ _

“I feel like he’s gonna laugh.” Rose said, although she was smiling giddily.

“He wouldn’t dare laugh at his  _ concubine. _ ” I teased her with what Jabe has called her.

The girl glared her brown eyes playfully. “Of course you’re not worried. What with you being  _ daddy’s little girl _ .”

“Don’t play this game. I will beat you.” I warned, laughing. “Just cause you’re  _ Mrs. Doctor _ , does not mean I will be merciful.”

“I won’t be either.” Rose gave me a tongue on tooth smile. “Not on  _ Doctor Junior _ .”

That got a good snicker out of me. Did this mean Rose and I were on the way to being friends? No, we already were. It felt rather nice.

“Rose.” I wrapped my arm around her’s in a friendly gesture. “I promise you, if he laughs, I will punch him again.” This made the girl snicker as we walked in.

The Doctor was under the console, mending the ship after the bumpy flight. He looked up, staring at Rose. “Blimey!”

She pulled away, pointing a warning finger. “Don’t laugh, I have an attack dog.” I waved, smiling cheekily.

“Hi. I’m the attack dog.” I added.

The Doctor was still staring at Rose. “You look beautiful, considering.” He turned away.

“Considering what?” Rose asked, her smile having dropped. I threw in a glare on my end. How I looked right now didn’t really matter to me, I just cared about getting out into the snow. I needed to have something akin to a real Christmas before the Gelth came.

The Doctor glanced up. “That you’re human.” He added a smirk once he knew Rose couldn’t see.

She turned to me, and I wondered if she wanted me to smack him. “I think that’s a compliment.” I frowned, pretending to be dejected by the news. “Aren’t you going to change?” Rose asked him.

“I’ve changed my jumper.” The Doctor held up the different colored shirt. “Come on.” He started to pull himself out of the inner workings. The human girl shoved him back down.

“You stay there. You’ve done this before.” Rose ran towards the doors. “This is mine.”

I grinned, waiting patiently for the Doctor to climb up to my side. “Hold on, didn’t you-” The Doctor was stopped by me whacking him upside the head. “Oi! Why do you keep hitting me?”

“I’m especially violent to those I’m closest to.” I replied, adding a cheeky grin. “Now go out there. She’s probably about to get captured, or something.”

The Doctor snorted at the joke. He walked out the door, giving me a small moment of peace.

I glanced back to the TARDIS. “I really hope they can’t hear me right now.” I said, before happily hopping around the console room like a five year old. “CHRISTMAS! IT’S CHRISTMAS! REAL CHRISTMAS! WITH REAL SNOW! EEEK!”

With that down, I let out a small cough to clear my throat. The TARDIS sent out an amused hum.  _ ‘There is no eloquence in true enthusiasm.’ _

“Okay. I’m good.” A smirk came to my face, as I prepared myself to run. “Now then...” I made a mad dash to the door. “Snow day!” I shouted, running down the alleyway to leave the happy couple in my dust.

 

==CON==

 

I was grinning the entire walk through Cardiff, looking at all of the old buildings. The people, all walking about in old time dresses and suits. They weren’t old timey here, they were in the now.

The Doctor and Rose had caught up to me awhile ago, with Rose enjoying the new atmosphere. I was kicking up snow, occasionally spelling out TERRA with the toe of my boot if I got too far ahead of them. What? It’s not  _ my _ fault they’re slowpokes.

I had just finished spelling my name out again when I saw the Doctor buying a newspaper. While the 1869’s Christmas was magical, seeing my name in the snow was...it was just everything I had hoped for.

“I got the flight a bit wrong.” The Doctor said, just as I walked up to his right side. I snorted.

Rose shook her head, looking out at the townsfolk. “I don’t care.”

“It’s not 1860, it’s 1869.” He went on. 

“I don’t care.” Rose repeated in a sing song voice.

“And it’s not Naples.”

“I don’t care.”

“It’s Cardiff.”

The Londoner stopped, letting the Doctor walk ahead. “Right.”

I elbowed her. “It’s still Christmas. At least he got that right.” She smiled at the light teasing.

I didn’t see the problem with Cardiff. It was a good enough town, I guess it was an England thing. In just over a hundred years, this place would be the home of Torchwood Three, where my sister had apparently been a part time resident. My aunt (Terra’s aunt, technically) Chloe Johnson worked there. Jack worked there.

It hit me. He was somewhere around here, eternally living and dying while waiting for us.

Even without living  _ Parting of Ways, _ I knew Jack was still Fixed. Darcy was a bit...deranged is a good word for now. She’s a serial killer, trained under me to do it without being caught (Think Dexter, but with chicks). Sometimes, she would kill whoever she was having sex with.  _ Darcy Style _ , she called it. 

So, at some point, she did it  _ Darcy Style _ with Jack Harkness. Darcy would never do that to a character (especially one I liked) unless they could come back.  _ ‘And the best part is, he doesn’t stay dead. I get to kill him again!’ _

Her reasoning, not mine.

Yes, Darcy is a serial killer. She’s proud of it, it’s a part of her charm. She was a bit like River Song in that aspect, she knew she was essentially a living weapon so she used it. Darcy had never been ashamed of who she was, of what she did. Neither have I. I loved every part of my baby sister, even the dark parts.

Darcy Anderson. My go to serial killer, my baby sister, my partner in crime.

Oh, and on top of all of that, I found her in  _ Child’s Play _ .

Rose and I caught up to the Doctor, he was still looking at the morning paper.

“So, are we just wandering around 1869 Cardiff?” I asked, dryly.

The Doctor nodded. “Yep.”

I let out a sigh. That sounded boring. “Anything good?” I asked him, looking at the newspaper.

“Nah, it’s a bit bland.” The Doctor remarked, turning a page.

“Can I see?” Rose asked, leaning her body against the Doctor’s to get a look at the paper. I snorted.

Before I could make any sort of joke, there was a loud scream off near the theatre.

“Oh thank my Story.” I cheered, holding my dress. 

The Doctor threw the paper to the snowy floor. “That’s more like it!”

 

==CON==

 

People were running out of the theatre in a hurry, making it hard to get inside. Though as they saw the three of us, they parted only slightly.

The ghost of Mrs. Peace flew around the theatre with a glowing blue light. This was not my first experience with ghosts, nor my first ghost on Christmas day, but it was my first time doing it in 1869.

“Fantastic.” The Doctor grinned. I snickered, getting excited at the action. Christmas wasn’t Christmas without it.

As soon as the Time Lord said this, the body collapsed in her seat. The blue light faded away, flying loose around the theatre. 

The Doctor and I went up to the stage, looking up at Charles Dickens.  _ Meeting Charles Dickens, and I am somehow unfazed.  _ “Did you see where it came from?” The Doctor asked.

“Was she acting strangely before this?” I followed up.

Charles Dickens frowned at us, almost condescending. “Ah, the wags reveals themselves, do they? I trust you’re satisfied, sir and miss!”

I stared at him in confusion. How could he think that we would expose ourselves if we did this? Usually, pranksters never reveal their prank until they no for sure they have gotten away with it.

“Oi! Leave her alone!” Rose’s voice cut thru the crowd. I looked at the woman, seeing Sneed and Gwyneth ( _ Holy shit Gwyneth!)  _ carrying her away. “Terra, Doctor, I’ll get them.”

Shouldn’t I have had a memory flash of Gwyneth? Aunt Chloe worked in Torchwood Three, which meant I would’ve gone at some point. Yes, I realize that it was a top secret facility, but I would have found a way in. I would have seen Gwen, so I would have recognized her.

Something was wrong with Terra’s memories. Something would have spilled over by now, what with how much I read that journal.

A scream broke me out of my thoughts. I had a job to do. “Don’t start a fire without me!” I called to Rose, pushing myself onto the stage.

“Be careful!” The Doctor added, hopping on behind me. “Did it say anything? Can it speak? I’m the Doctor, by the way, and this is Terra Johnson.”

“And we’re here to help.” I gave him a look of full confidence.

“Doctor?” Charles scoffed. “You look more like a navvie, and she looks like a slapper.”

I flinched back, staring at the famous poet with confusion. Slapper was something the Doctor said in  _ Unicorn and the Wasp. _ It wasn’t a good thing, I’m guessing. I looked down at my dress, giving myself a quick assumption.

Charles Dickens just called me a whore, I think.

“What’s wrong with this jumper?” The Doctor said, more to himself.

“Okay. I’m gonna pretend I didn’t hear that.” I told Charles, really wishing I had thought of pockets when picking a dress.

The screams of the balcony caught my attention, I looked up to see the Gelth fly into a fire.

“Gas! It’s made of gas.” The Doctor said in awe.

I was smiling with him, until a thought hit me. “Rose!” I dashed off the stage, not pausing even after my leap to the front doors.

The crowd had only made the attempted rescue mildly difficult. She was lying in Sneed’s arms, being shoved into the back of his hearse.

I cursed, stomping my boot in the snow. My hands went up to my hair, taking a moment to fix my headband. That would give me time to think, and keep me from just running after the hearse on foot.

“Rose!” The Doctor shouted from behind me. He came up to my side, watching the hearse with a forlorn expression.

“You’re not escaping me, you two.” Charles said, walking up to my side. “What do you know about that hobgoblin, hmm? Projection on glass, I suppose. Who put you up to it?”

“Yeah, mate. Not now, thanks.” The Doctor whacked my arm, pointing at a nearby open coach. I nodded. The two of us ran to it, climbing in. “Oi, you! Follow that hearse!” The Doctor ordered the driver.

I settled into the seat across from his, leaning out the window to see the hearse getting farther and farther away.

“I can’t do that, sir.” The driver said.

“Why the hell not?” I barked.

“I’ll tell you why not.” Charles said, sticking his head thru the door. “I’ll give you a very good reason why not.”

“Because this is your coach.” I groaned, slouching in my chair. “Of  _ course _ it would be your coach.”

The Doctor dragged him in. “Well, get in, then.” 

“Move!” I ordered just as the door shut.

The coach shook, sending us after the hearse. The Doctor glanced out the window, seeing them turn a corner. “Come on, you’re losing them.”

“Everything in order, Mister Dickens?” The driver asked.

I turned my head back to the man beside the Doctor. He glared up towards the driver. “No! It is not!”

“What did he say?” The Doctor asked.

The author shook his head, turning to the Doctor. “Let me say this first. I’m not without a sense of humor.”

“Dickens?” The Doctor gaped.

“Yes.” Charles said, still angry.

“Charles Dickens?” The Doctor clarified. I starting shake my head at the scene.

“Yes.”

“ _ The _ Charles Dickens?”

“Should I remove the gentleman and lady, sir?” The driver asked.

Charles looked unsure. The Doctor was going all out. “Charles Dickens? You’re brilliant, you are. Completely one hundred percent brilliant. I’ve read them all. Great Expectations, Oliver Twist and what’s the other one, the one with the ghost?”

“A Christmas Carol?” Charles asked.

“No, no, no, the one with the trains.” The Doctor scrunched his face in thought.

“The Signal Man.” I informed, pleased to see the Doctor get starstruck.

The Doctor snapped his fingers at me. “The Signal Man, that’s it.” He went back to his apparent idol. “Terrifying! The best short story ever written. You’re a genius.”

“You want me to get rid of them, sir?” The driver asked again.

Charles looked to the Doctor, who was an excited puppy, then to me, who was happily laughing at the Doctor’s expense. “Er, no, I think they can stay.”

“Honestly, Charles. Can I call you Charles? I’m such a big fan.” The Doctor said.

“A what?” Charles asked. “A big what?”

“Fan. Number one fan, that’s me.” The Doctor explained.

Ladies and gentleman, may I present to you the Oncoming Storm, the last of the almighty Time Lords (I am a Time  _ Lady _ ), and he was fanboying over Charles Dickens.

“Rose is gonna love this.” I said under my breath.

“How exactly are you a fan?” Charles asked. “In what way do you resemble a means of keeping oneself cool?”

“It means he likes your work.” I translated, adding a chuckle. The Doctor nodded like a bobble head. “A lot.”

Charles nodded, curious. “I take you are a fan as well?”

“Nah.” I shrugged. “More a fan of Poe.”

“Mind you, I’ve got to say, that American bit in Martin Chuzzlewit, what’s that about?” The Doctor asked Charles, making me laugh. Even when chasing after my friend, I found laugh-

The thought stopped my laughter cold. I got distracted watching the Doctor, be the Doctor! Rose was unconscious in that thing!

“Was that just padding or what?” The Doctor asked Charles. “I mean, it’s rubbish, that bit.”

Charles was shocked. “I thought you said you were my fan.”

“Ah, well, if you can’t take criticism.” The Doctor said. “Go on, do the death of Little Nell, it cracks me up.” The Doctor said that part to me, smiling until he saw my feasted face. His face changed to one of worry. “No, sorry, forget about that. Come on, faster!” He yelled at the driver.

“Who exactly is in that hearse?” Charles asked me.

“Rose Tyler.” I said, as if her name would explain my unease.

“Our friend.” The Doctor clarified. “She’s only nineteen. It’s my fault.”

“ _ Our _ fault.” I corrected him. “I should have gone after them with her.”

“There’s no time for that right now.” The Doctor said to me. He was right, we couldn’t afford to play the blame game. “They’re in my care, and now she’s in danger.”

“Why are we wasting my time talking about dry old books? This is much more important.” Charles asked, much to my pleasure. He leaned out of the window. “Driver, be swift! The chase is on!”

“Yes, sir!” The driver said before the carriage went faster. I gripped my seat firmly, so I wouldn’t be thrown at the Doctor.

“Attaboy, Charlie.” Said Time Lord nudged his shoulder.

“Nobody calls me Charlie.” The author warned.

The Doctor looked at him slyly. “The ladies do.”

“I am  _ not _ calling him Charlie.” I stressed.

Charles stared at the Doctor, my comment mostly ignored. “How do you know that?”

“I told you, I’m your number one-”

“Number one fan.” He said dryly. 

 

==CON==

 

The coach stopped just outside of Sneed’s funeral parlor. I got to the door first, knocking loudly on the door.

The Doctor and Charles came up behind me. “Allow me, Miss.” Charles said.

With hesitance, I took a step back. Charles knocked on the door, a bit kinder than when I did it.

The door opened, revealing Gwyneth. She smiled politely. “I’m sorry, sir. We’re closed.”

“Nonsense.” Charles said, barely letting her finish. “Since when did an Undertaker keep office hours? The dead don’t die on schedule. I demand to see your master.”

The maid was hesitant, yet still tried coding the door. “He’s not in, sir.” She lied.

Charles slammed his fist on the door, making us all jump back. “Don’t lie to me, child. Summon him at once.”

“I’m awfully sorry, Mister Dickens, but the master’s indisposed.” Gwyneth said, almost making me growl. Behind her, a gas fire was flickering.

“Having trouble with your gas?” The Doctor asked, pointing at the lamp.

Faintly, I could hear whispers. I stormed up the stairs, past Charles and Gwyneth. 

“What the Shakespeare is going on?” Charles asked, turning my angry face into a smirk.

I walked up to the gaslamp, hearing the whispers at their loudest. The Doctor came up beside me, pressing his ears to the wall.

“You’re not allowed inside, ma’am, sir.” Gwyneth warned, looking down the halls in case Sneed came.

“There’s something inside the walls.” The Doctor informed us.

“Not the walls.” I said, pressing my head against the wall. I could feel it vibrating, though not directly. “The gas pipes.”

“Something’s living inside the gas.” The Doctor realized.

_ “Let me out! Open the door!” _ Rose’s panicked voice called out.

The Doctor and I’s head snapped in the direction of her voice, throwing glares at the wincing Gwyneth.

“Found your girlfriend.” I commented.

“She’s not my girlfriend.” The Doctor said, marching after Rose.

_ “Please, please, let me out!” _ Rose shouted again.

“Trust me, she’s your girlfriend.” I said, smirking. I followed after him.

Sneed suddenly appeared trying to block out path. “How dare you sir, miss!” He turned to Charles. “This is my house!”

“Shut up.” Charles snapped.

I ran behind the Doctor, quickly catching up.

_ “Let me out! Somebody open the door! Open the door!” _ Rose pleaded, her voice suddenly cut off.

The Doctor made it to the door first, kicking it down. Rose was held by the two corpses, mouth covered by the blue eyed Redpath.

“I think this is my dance.” The Doctor said, marching up to pull Rose away.

Yet unlike any other circumstance, the corpse didn’t lash out to losing it’s prize. Redpath and Mrs. Peace backed away, glaring at us with blank eyes.

“It’s a prank. It must be.” Charles said, reminding us that he was here. “We’re under some mesmeric influence.”

“No, we’re not. The dead are walking.” The Doctor said, then smiled. “Hi.”

“Hi.” I waved at Rose, although still watching the walking corpses.

“Hi.” Rose looked at the author. “Who’s your friend?”

“Charles Dickens.” The Doctor informed.

Rose wasn’t even phased. “Okay.”

“The Doctor’s a huge fan of him.” I told her, to her delight and his annoyance. “You should’ve seen him on the ride over.”

Before Rose could ask for more, the Doctor spoke to the Gelth. “My name’s the Doctor. Who are you, then? What do you want?”

Redpath spoke, along with a couple others overlapping it. It sounded like a ghost’s wail, like hundreds of spirits screaming in agony. “Failing. Open the rift. We’re dying. Trapped in this form. Cannot sustain. Help us. Argh!”

The blue gas flew out of their mouths, making grandma and grandson fall to the ground dead. The gas went back into the pipes, waiting for us to let them out.

 

==CON==

 

Gwyneth was pouring tea for everyone. Charles had chosen to sit in one of the tea chairs, near the fireplace. Sneed had been pushed down into the big chair, being scolded by Rose. The Doctor and I were leaning against different sides of the fireplace.

“First of all you drug me, then you kidnap me, and don’t think I didn’t feel your hands having a quick wander, you dirty old man.” Rose sneered at him.

“He did  _ what?! _ ” I half shouted, standing by Rose’s side.

“I won’t be spoken to like this!” Sneed said, looking to others for help.

I marched up to him, grabbing the collar of his suit in my fist. Sneed was pulled up to my level, letting my amber eyes glare into his dark brown. The man sputtered at the sudden attack.

“My friend could have died in that room.” My voice was a boom, demanding he listen to it. “I’m tempted to lock you in there and see if they take the bait. If you intend to make it to tomorrow, I suggest you start talking.”

Sneed hesitated. I gripped his shirt tighter, my face curling into a snarl. “Did I  _ stutter _ ?”

My fist let his shirt go, giving him a chance to talk. He fell back into the chair. “It’s not my fault! It’s this house!” Sneed shouted, panicked.

He looked to others in the room, realizing he had all of the attention. My glare lessened, but only just.

“It always had a reputation. Haunted. But I never had much bother until a few months back, and then the stiffs-” I glared at his use of the word. The funeral director fumbled. “The er,  _ dear departed _ .” I nodded at him, giving a forced smile. “Started getting restless.”

Charles rolled his eyes “Tommyrot.” He took a sip of his tea.

“You witnessed it.” Sneed reminded the author. His voice turned sorrowful, weary. I walked back to my place by the fireplace. “Can’t keep the beggars down, sir. They walk. And it’s the queerest thing, but they hang on to scraps.”

During Sneed’s rant, Gwyneth put a tea saucer by the Doctor. “Two sugars, sir, just how you like it.” She walked off, grabbing another one. He looked as her peculiarly.

“One old fellow who used to be a sexton almost walked into his own memorial service.” Sneed explained to Charles.

Gwyneth leaned in close, putting down my cup. “Green tea, ma’am, with five sugars.”

I smiled politely, having a sip. “Ah. Tea flavored sugar. Lifeblood of the Deep South.”

The Doctor leaned over to me. He looked down at my cup, then his, then at Gwyneth. Neither of us had told her what we liked it our tea, yet here we were with tea cups. I gave the maid a curious glance, 

“Just like the old lady going to your performance, sir, just as she planned.” Sneed finished that speech.

“Morbid fancy.” The author dismissed, getting to his feet.

The Doctor rolled his eyes. “Oh, Charles, you were there.”

“I saw nothing but an illusion.” His words came out slow, as if it doubtful.

I rolled my eyes. The Doctor looked at him dismissively. “If you’re going to deny it, don’t waste my time. Just shut up.”

There was a pause in the room. “What about the gas?” I asked Sneed, taking another sip of my tea. What? I had gone a month without drinking proper Southern tea. Don’t judge me.

“T-That’s new, miss. Never seen anything like that.” He said quickly. Oh, he was the tiniest bit afraid of me. Terrific.

“Means it’s getting stronger.” The Doctor explained. Rose and I looked over at him. “The rift’s getting wider and something’s sneaking through.”

“What’s the rift?” Rose asked.

“A weak point in time and space. A connection between this place and another.” The Doctor explained. “That’s the cause of ghost stories, most of the time.”

“That’s how I got the house so cheap.” Sneed said, making me roll my eyes while shaking my head. “Stories going back generations.”

The door closed, telling us that Charles had slipped out. I sighed.  _ This was his last year alive...he was just looking for something good to do with it. _

Sneed went on, barely noticing. “Echoes in the dark, queer songs in the air, and this feeling like a shadow passing over your soul. Mind you, truth be told, it’s been good for business.”

Looking at Rose’s face was utterly priceless. She couldn’t believe the words out of Sneed’s mouth. I was holding back snickering, using my tea cup to hide my smile. From a glance at the Doctor, he was no better off. 

“Just what people expect from a gloomy old trade like mine.” Sneed said.

 

==CON==

 

While the Doctor went off to talk with his hero, Rose and I went to help Gwyneth. I had almost wandered off to help Doc, but drinking that tea reminded me of my true heritage. It was called southern hospitality for nothing.

Gwyneth was lighting one of the gas lamps, Rose got set on the dishes, and I put the dry ones away. “Please, miss, ma’am, neither of you should be helping. It’s not right.”

“Don’t be daft. Sneed works you to death.” Rose put her foot down.

“As for me, it’s called Southern Hospitality for a reason.” I said in the same tone as Rose. “I’d be a disgrace if I didn’t help.”

Gwyneth accepted the help, but went to clean the dishes with Rose.

“How much do you get paid?” Rose asked, after a small pause.

“Eight pound a year, miss.” I whistled. The maid blushed.

Rose blinked. “How much?”

Gwyneth started shaking her head, in wonder. “I know. I would’ve been happy with six.”

I looked to the young blonde, who was looking at me as if this was all mad. I shrugged at her, unsurprised by the low pay. Rose decided to go on, as if wondering how much of the past was different than present. “So, did you go to school or what?”

“Of course I did. What do you think I am, an  _ urchin _ ?” Gwyneth asked, while I took the tea saucer she had just cleaned and put it away.  _ Ya know what, screw it. I’m just gonna start cleaning all of them. _ “I went every Sunday, nice and proper.”

“What, once a week?” The Londoner asked.

“We did sums and everything.” Gwyneth boasted, leaning closer to Rose. Her voice dropped to a near whisper. I put aside a clean dish, moving on to the next one. “To be honest, I hated every second.”

“Me too.” Rose shook her head, snickering with Gwyneth.

I snorted. Technically I was still in high school, just entered my sophomore year, too. I had also done high school ten times, in different realities all around. Only a handful of colleges, though, and middle schools. Thankfully I’ve only done elementary three times; at Home, in  _ Lilo and Stitch, _ and with Darcy in  _ Child’s Play _ .

After the third time going back to school, it got old. I knew the information, and had to be pretend to be stupider than I was so I wouldn’t get noticed for being a nerd. I was already picked on for a being a loner freak, the last thing I needed was to be a  _ smart _ loner freak. The kids at my old school would’ve killed me on the spot!

Oh yeah. I was bullied, too. Imagine me, at forty years old, being bullied by a ten year old on how weird I acted. I never had a single friend my seven years there. If they weren’t laughing at me for being a freak, they were laughing at how stupid I was, or how I could never do anything right. I would cry in the bathroom, or the janitor’s closet, or that one horrible time I ended up crying in class. They never stopped, ever. Every day I dreaded going there, knowing that it was another day in Hell. Then there was that incident with the stairs...fifty feet of pure concrete...

It was traumatizing. My saving grace finally came when my parents moved me to a different school, one they started up in 8th grade. I still haven’t told anyone what happened to me, save Darcy. No one had ever noticed what happened.  _ No one had ever cared about the poor weird freak. _

“What about you, Terra?” Rose asked.

I shrugged off most of my thoughts. Those days were over. I wasn’t the crybaby, I was Terra. “Hated every second, like she said. Couldn’t have put it better myself.”

“Don’t tell anyone, but one week, I didn’t go and ran on the heath all on my own.” Gwyneth whispered, scandalized.

“I did plenty of that.” Rose said. The two were laughing like schoolgirls. “I used to go down the shops with my mate Shareen. We used to go and look at boys.”

The maid stopped laughing at the word, lips a thin line. “Well, I don’t know much about that, miss.” Gwyneth turned to sink, picking up the dish rag to help me clean. We had about half the sink done now.

“Come on, times haven’t changed that much. I bet you’ve done the same.” Rose encouraged.

“I don’t think so, miss.”

“Yeah.” I agreed with Gwyneth. “I never did much of either of those.”

The young girl turned to me. “What, really? Never?”

“Nope.” I said, scrubbing extra hard on one of the dishes.

“Terra, Gwyneth, you can tell me. I bet you’ve got your eyes on someone.” Rose lightly teased.

I snapped my head to Rose’s. “Boys are too busy laughing at me.” My hand gripped tightly onto the dish I was cleaning, and I was surprised it didn’t crack.

There was a short pause in the room, like my comment had made it uncomfortable. I went back to cleaning dishes, if for nothing more than to not be in this moment any more. My second heart was beating faster, my mind taking me back again to try days at Oakley...

No one there had ever liked me. The boys thought I was an idiot, and ugly. The girls thought the same, except they were a bit more public on the ridicule.

But I have no right to complain. I had mostly deserved it, and others have it worse. Back Home, I have loving parents and brothers ands roof over my head, I have food on my plate and clothes in my closet. Other kids out there struggle for food, and didn’t have parents. They were getting stuck in lockers and went home with bruises, I was just called names and ate lunch in the bathroom. The lockers were too small to be stuffed into, anyway.

I wasn’t the only kid being bullied, no I was just the go-to joke. What right had I to complain when I had it so easy? 

Plus, I was technically five times older than my former classmates. They were just kids. I was older, and knew better. Let them say what they wanted about me, I would take it so others wouldn’t.  _ ‘Never to suffer would never to have been blessed.’ _

“There is one lad.” Gwyneth said, her words breaking the cold of the air. Rose smiled encouragingly, waiting for a bit of gossip.  _ ‘I want to say she’s like Jackie, but I would rather not regenerate today.’  _ “The butcher’s boy. He comes by every Tuesday. Such a lovely smile on him.”

“I like a nice smile.” Rose nodded. I almost smiled, putting aside a clean dish. “Good smile, nice bum.”

Gwyneth blushed at the crude language. I almost snorted at Rose’s crass.  _ ‘My sister’s said worse in a church. In front of a priest. On a Sunday.’  _ “Well, I have never heard the like.” The maid said.

“Ask him out.” Rose encouraged. “Give him a cup of tea or something, that’s a start.”

_ ‘Maybe that’s why I like Rose. She reminds me of Darcy. Runs to danger even when she shouldn’t, likes skipping a school to meet boys, tries to get  _ me  _ interested in boys. Story dammit, now I’m homesick.’ _

“I swear it is the strangest thing, miss.” Gwyneth shook her head at Rose. “You’ve got all the clothes and the breeding, but you talk like some sort of wild thing.”

“Maybe I am.” Rose grinned a tongue on tooth smile again. “Maybe that’s a good thing.”

The maid turned to me, watching me put away the last cleaned teacup. I picked up the tray, looking at her expectantly. “And you, ma’am, you’ve got it too, but you’re cleaning as if it’s expected of you, like you’re trying to hide behind it.”

I paused in my cleaning, keeping my eyes on her. That was the clairvoyance again. How much of what I was could Gwyneth see? Could she seems my dark past, my darker future? She was staring back at me, almost vacantly. She was probably seeing it all right now. I kept my walls up in my mind, hoping to spare her of the more gruesome details.

“Why do you work for Mister Sneed?” I asked, hoping to move to conversation along. “He’s kind of a jerk.”

“Oh, now that’s not fair.” Gwyneth half scolded us, defending Mister Sneed. “He’s not so bad, old Sneed. He was very kind to me to take me in because I lost my mum and dad to the flu when I was twelve.”

My friend and I frowned at the news, though Rose’s came easier than mine did. “Oh, I’m sorry.” Rose said.

“I know what it’s like to lose your parents at a young age.” The comforting sentence came out before I could stop it.

It was true, in a sense. My parents may not be dead, but remember, I was over a century and a half old, and they were in their mid thirties. They weren’t Jumpers like I was, they never knew any of it. There were a lot of years I spent alone, without Mom and Dad to help me. It happened in a lot of different realities too. The first time I was an orphan, I was 27.

Actually, I was living as a six year old on the streets of Hawaii. Mahina Alana, that was my name. I had been alone there for a month before the movie started, and it had been a month of hell. No mom to tuck me in, no dad to scare away monsters, no house to keep out the cold night air.

Then in my eighties, I was an orphaned teen in Middleton. Jo Getter, because everyone in that town had a name that was a play on words. She had been left to fend for herself from the age of ten to age sixteen, also having to care for an adopted little brother. It was an assignment given to me by Master Sensei, and Jo took it with great care.

There were a couple of other times I was an orphan. And now I can add  _ Doctor Who _ to that list. Terrific.

Gwyneth gave Rose and I polite smiles. “Thank you, ma’am, miss. But I’ll be with them again, one day, sitting with them in paradise. I shall be so blessed. They’re waiting for me. Maybe your dad’s up there waiting for you too, miss, and your family is too, ma’am.”

“Maybe.” Rose said.

Hold on, Gwyneth was calling me ma’am? I thought she was calling Rose that cause she was the older one of the two of us!

“Er, who told you he was dead?” Rose asked, coming to a conclusion Doc and I did. 

“I don’t know.” Gwyneth said, going back to make sure the dishes were all in order. “Must have been the Doctor.”

“My father died years back.” Rose went on. I stayed quiet, letting Rose figure out for herself.

The maid put more of the dishes away, with help from me. “But you’ve been thinking about him lately more than ever.” She pointed out.

“I suppose so.” The young girl shrugged. “How do you know all this?”

Gwyneth smiled at Rose and I. Now that the dishes were clean and put away, I took a step back. This meant I was in a dark corner again, yay. “Mister Sneed says I think too much. I’m all alone down here. I bet you’ve got dozens of servants, haven’t you, ma’am, miss?”

“No, no servants where I’m from.” Rose shook her head, almost laughing at the absurdity.

“None here, either.” I chuckled.  _ ‘Me with servants, been there done that.’ _

“And you’ve both come such long ways.” Gwyneth’s voice started fading, almost absentmindedly talking to us.

“What makes you think so?” Rose asked.

Gwyneth took a step closer, staring intently at Rose. I watched the proceedings with “You’re from London. I’ve seen London in drawings, but never like that.”

There was a small creak in the floorboards near the door. I glanced over, seeing Doc standing in the doorway.

“All those people rushing about half naked, for shame.” The maid continued on. “And the noise, and the metal boxes racing past, and the birds in the sky, no, they’re metal as well. Metal birds with people in them. People are flying. And you, you’ve flown so far. Further than anyone. The things you’ve seen. The darkness, the big bad wolf.”

Gwyneth turned to me, eyes becoming shiny with tears. Rose was a bit in shock over what the maid had said, and how much of it was right. I looked down at my red boots in shame. Apparently my past wasn’t as hidden as I’d have liked.

“Oh, ma’am. You’re from the Americas.  It’s so much bigger than what I’ve heard. The metal boxes and birds, you’be seen them and...oh ma’am. You’ve got a youthful face but such old eyes.” I  looked back up at the maid, wondering if you could see how old I was in them now. She blinked, some of the tears falling to her cheek. “You’ve seen such horrible, horrible things. All those people, all of that death.”

Rose glance at me, I remarked from the corner of my eye. I would’ve looked back, but I was remembering what Gwyneth must have been looking at. I had been working in the police force for most of my life, though I preferred my work in the BAU and  _ Psych _ most of all. Those were the ones with the most danger,  _ the most pain _ .  _ So much loss... _

“The darkest souls, monsters under the bed, the Tiger.” I sucked in a breath. Damn, I was hoping she wouldn’t see that. Gwyneth stepped back, hurriedly.

The visions left her, and she looked at us with fear. Not scared of us, no, worried about what we would do. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry, ma’am, miss.” She apologized.

“It’s alright.”

“I’m not angry.” I said, in a calm voice.

“I can’t help it. Ever since I was a little girl, my mam said I had the sight.” Gwyneth explained. “She told me to hide it.”

“But it’s getting stronger, more powerful, is that right?” The Doctor said, finally letting the other two know he was here. 

Rose and Gwyneth jumped back. “All the time, sir. Every night, voices in my head.”

“You grew up on top of the rift. You’re part of it. You’re the key.” The Doctor said.

“I’ve tried to make sense of it, sir. Consulted with spiritualists, table rappers, all sorts.” Gwyneth explained. 

The Doctor’s face exposed nothing of his plans. “Well, that should help. You can show us what to do.”

“What to do where, sir?” Gwyneth asked.

The Doctor had a small grin. “We’re going to have a séance.”

 

==CON==

 

Gwyneth was setting up the table, I helped. I handed her the candles, arranging them as I had once done during a Jump as a witch.

“Ma’am, I can handle this.” Gwyneth said, smiling bashfully.

“I know.” I said, suddenly feeling anxious. “I’m just...sorry.”

“What for?” Gwyneth asked.

I gave her a sad look. “For what you saw in my head.” The maid’s lips turned to s thin line, her eyes widening just so. “I’m sorry. No one should have to see any of that.”

“Excuse me, ma’am, but you saw it first.” Gwyneth pointed out.

“Yeah, when I was older than you.” I argued. “When I could handle it.”

The maid reached over, rafting her hand over mine in a show of comfort. “No, you weren’t much younger than when I first started having the sight.”

My gaze was dragged away from her, getting back to the seance. “So these candles go here?” She was right. I was much younger when I saw my first dead body, first had a gun aimed at my back with intent to kill. No ten year old should feel that terror, feel that pain.

“Yes.” The maid said after a pause.

She called the others to the table, gathering around it in chairs. Gwyneth sat at the head of the table. I was at her left, with Charles next, then Rose, Sneed, and lastly the Doctor.

Gwyneth looked up at us, laying her hands out palm-up. “This is how Madam Mortlock summons those from the Land of Mists, down in big town. Come, we must all join hands.”

Five of us held hands, but Charles stood up. “I can’t take part in this.”

“Humbug?” The Doctor called out to him. “Come on, open mind.”

“This is precisely the sort of cheap mummery I strive to unmask.” Charles stressed. “Séances? Nothing but luminous tambourines and a squeeze box concealed between the knees. This girl knows nothing.”

“Now, don’t antagonize her. I love a happy medium.” The Doctor joked.

Rose smiled. “I can’t believe you just said that.”

“It’s alright, Charles.” I said. “You can go.” I looked back at him, holding my hand out. “But if you do...you’ll always been wondering what happened. It’ll be an unfinished story, and what author can stand that?”

This was all the encouragement Charles needed. He sat back down, taking my hand. 

“Good man.” The Doctor complimented, turning to the maid. “Now, Gwyneth, reach out.”

Said woman looked up at the ceiling, making Charles roll his eyes. I squeezed it, scolding him. “Speak to us. Are you there? Spirits, come. Speak to us that we may relieve your burden.”

The whispers of the Gelth started up again. I looked up, feeling a chill go through the room. Story, I missed my hoodie.

“Can you hear that?” Rose asked Charles.

“Nothing can happen.” Charles dismissed. “This is sheer folly. Ow!”

I had squeezed his hand again. The blue gas of the Gelth was coming out from the ceiling. “If I were you, I’d shut up.”

“I see them. I feel them.” Gwyneth said, causing them all to look up with her.

“What’s it saying?” Rose asked the Doctor and I.

“They can’t get through the rift.” The Doctor explained.

I leaned over to the maid, holding her hand tight. I used to have a friend was a medium, she would get visions constantly and I was usually the one who helped her through it. Plus, I was having visions of my own at the time. “Gwyneth, it’s not controlling you, you’re controlling it. Look deep. Allow them through.”

“I can’t!” She shook her head, afraid.

“Yes, you can.” The Doctor said. “Just believe it. We have faith in you, Gwyneth. Make the link.”

She steeled herself. “Yes.” A blue outline of a ghost appeared behind Gwyneth, although the maid hadn’t noticed. 

“Great God!” Sneed said. “Spirits from the other side.”

“The other side of the universe.” The Doctor joked.

The Gelth started speaking, multiple voices overlapping each other. “Pity us. Pity the Gelth. There is so little time. Help us.”

“What do you want us to do?” The Doctor asked, his voice saying he would accept whatever they asked.

“The rift. Take the girl to the rift.” The Gelth explained. “Make the bridge.”

“What for?” The Doctor asked.

“We are so very few.” The Gelth pleaded. “The last of our kind. We face extinction.”

“Why, what happened?” The Doctor asked.

“Once we had a physical form like you, but then the war came.” The Gelth explained, making the Doctor frown.

“War? What war?” Charles asked.

“The Time War.” Rose and I looked at the Doctor, seeing him looking down out of shame. He glanced up at us, then back down. “The whole universe convulsed. The Time War raged. Invisible to smaller species but  _ devastating _ to higher forms. Our bodies wasted away. We’re  _ trapped _ in this gaseous state.”

“So that’s why you need the corpses.” The Doctor said.

I looked up at the Gelth, with skeptical eyes. “We want to stand tall, to feel the sunlight, to live again.” They said. “We need a physical form, and your dead are abandoned. They’re going to waste. Give them to us.”

“But we can’t.” Rose said, gently.

The Doctor glared at her. “Why not?”

“It’s not.” Rose stumbled, suddenly confused by the Doctor’s tone. “I mean, it’s not-”

“Not decent? Not polite?” The Doctor argued. “It could save their lives.”

“We can’t be sure of that.” I reminded the Doctor.

“Open the rift. Let the Gelth through.” The Gelth added. “We’re dying. Help us. Pity the Gelth.”

The girl collapsed onto the table, I was instantly at her side to check for her pulse. It was fine, so she was just unconscious. I looked up at the Doctor, a warning in my eyes.

 

==CON==

 

Gwyneth was laid out on a lounge chair, while I sat in the chair beside. I kept my mouth shut since the attack, thinking over my next move. Somehow, I had to explain to the Doctor that the Gelth were not to be trusted. It was a difficult task, but I’m sure I could do it.

Rose was waiting by Gwyneth’s side, as she had been since the maid fell asleep. The Doctor was leaning against the doorframe, waiting to get Gwyneth up and running. Sneed and Charles were in the next room, adjusting to the new world view.

When Gwyneth woke up, Rose made sure she stayed down. “It’s all right. You just sleep.”

“But my angels, miss. They came, didn’t they?” She asked, sounding weak. “They need me?”

“They do need you, Gwyneth.” The Doctor said, in a serious voice. “You’re their only chance of survival.”

Rose glared at him. “We’ve told you, leave her alone. She’s exhausted and she’s not fighting your battles.”

The Doctor rolled his eyes, sighing in exasperation. Rose picked up a glass of tea. “Drink this.”

“Well, what did you say, Doctor? Explain it again.” Sneed asked. I almost snapped at the man to shut up, such was my lack of patience with him. “What are they?”

“Aliens.” The Doctor  stated.

“Like foreigners, you mean?” Sneed asked.

I snorted at the ignorance. “Pretty foreign, yeah.” The Doctor pointed up at the sky. “From up there.”

“Brecon?” Sneed tried.

“Close.” The Doctor snorted. “And they’ve been trying to get through from  _ Brecon _ to Cardiff but the road’s blocked. Only a few can get through and even then they’re weak. They can only test drive the bodies for so long, then they have to revert to gas and hide in the pipes.”

“Which is why they need the girl.” Charles realized.

“They’re not having her.” Rose immediately jumped to her defense.

“But she can help. Living on the rift, she’s become part of it.” The Doctor explained, trying to convince Rose that this was right. “She can open it up, make a bridge and let them through.”

“Incredible.” Charles said, sounding somewhere between convinced and skeptical. “Ghosts that are not ghosts but beings from another world, who can only exist in our world by inhabiting cadavers.”

“Good system. It might work.” The Doctor said.

“You can’t let them run around inside of dead people.” Rose argued.

“Why not? It’s like recycling.”

“Seriously though,  _ you can’t _ .”

“Seriously though,  _ I can _ .”

“Okay. If all of your arguments are gonna go like that, I’ll be on my way.” I said, speaking for the first time in minutes.

Rose turned to me, as if I was her last hope. “Terra, come on. You know it’s wrong, right?”

The Doctor turned to me, as well as the others in the room. I kept my gaze ahead of me, leaning forward to rest my elbows on my knees. “They said  _ pity the gelth _ .” I pointed out.

“Because they want our help.” The Doctor stressed. I shook my head.

“No. That was the first thing they said to us.  _ Pity us. _ ” I turned to Rose,not getting out of my chair. “It’s a sympathy plea. Beggars use the same technique when asking for cash, even though they probably have more than enough.”

“You’re saying they’re liars because they asked for  _ pity _ ?” The Doctor shook his head. “The Gelth need our help. That’s all there is to it.”

I snorted, sitting back in my chair. “People who are truly in need never ask for pity, they asked for  _ understanding, _ they ask for  _ healing. _ They don’t start conversations with it. They wouldn’t have asked for pity, it just doesn’t fit.”

“How would you know?” The Doctor scoffed.

“Because when I showed you my letter, I didn’t want your damn pity.” I barked, rising up out of my chair so I could face him down. “When people give you their pity, they aren’t treating you like a person. They treat you like a piece of glass. Nobody, human or otherwise, would ask for it when people are dying.”

“And besides.” Rose said. “Those bodies were living people. We should respect them even in death.”

“Do either of you carry a donor card?”

“Oh, don’t you  _ dare _ compare that to this!” I snapped at him. “It is something completely different-”

“It  _ is _ different, yeah. It’s a different morality. Get used to it or go home.” The Doctor barked. My glare harshened. He stepped closer to Rose and I, keeping his voice lowered. “You heard what they said, time’s short. I can’t worry about a few corpses when the last of the Gelth could be dying.”

“I don’t care!” I growled. “They’re not using her!”

“Don’t I get a say, ma’am?” Gwyneth asked, apparently sitting up in her seat. 

I turned to the maid, thinking it over. “Of course you get a say.”

“You would say that, ma’am, because that’s very clear inside your head, that you think I’m weak.” Gwyneth stated, her voice strained. 

I put my hand on her shoulder, looking her in the eyes. “The last time they used you, you were knocked unconscious with a weak pulse. This soon after the seance, it’ll kill you. I’m not sending someone into a battle knowing they won’t come out!”

Gwyneth rested her hand over mine. “Treating me like glass, isn’t that what you said about pity?”

Okay. That had me stumped. I tried searching for another argument, but they all fell mute. She had a point. I was treating her like glass, because I knew she was too weak to fight. Was that pity, though? Couldn’t it just have been concern for this girl so much younger than me, so full of life?

“I know my own mind, and the angels need me.” Gwyneth said, determined now. There was no stopping someone when they were that determined. “Doctor, what do I have to do?”

The Doctor hesitated before answering.  “You don’t have to do anything.”

Gwyneth shook her head at the absurd statement. “They’ve been singing to me since I was a child, sent by my mam on a holy mission. So tell me.”

“We need to find the rift.” The Doctor said, grinning happily. He marched over towards Charles and Sneed, leaving me standing in his earlier corner. I propped my foot against it, staring down at my red boot.

“This house is on a weak spot, so there must be a spot that’s weaker than any other.” The Doctor explained. “Mister Sneed, what’s the weakest part of this house? The place where most of the ghosts have been seen?”

Sneed didn’t even pause. “That would be the morgue.” I snorted, starting to laugh.

The Londoner sighed, sitting next to Gwyneth. “No chance you were going to say gazebo, is there!”

“Nothing fun happens in a gazebo.” I smirked. “A  _ morgue _ just happens to be my favorite room.” I snorted at my own inside joke.  _ It was the nickname Darcy gave me. _

The others, of course, looked at me like I was insane. Rose more than anyone.

 

==CON==

 

The room was much colder than any other in the house. I was still smiling when I walked in, feeling like I was walking home. Multiple years on the force meant there were a lot of days where I would walk into a morgue and speak with the M.E.

I almost expected to see an old friend standing there, staring down at the dead bodies with a sad look in his eyes. He would be leaning on his cane, holding a clipboard in his other hand probably. The room would smell of rotting flesh and some bleach, my shoes which squeak on the linoleum floors.

My sister called me  _ Morgue _ , saying it was a way cooler nickname for me. It was good name, I liked it way more than my real name. If we weren’t on the clock, it was the only thing she’d call me. Other times, I was  _ Yellow _ or  _ DeadGirlWalking _ , and the ever lovely  _ Bitch. _

She has nicknames too. _Darce_ , _AngelEyes,_ _Purple,_ and _Witch_.

We loved nicknames in the Anderson house. Or, maybe they were code names? We didn’t like  _ our _ names I guess.

When this was done, I was gonna call Darce and tell her about this. She would love it. Ghosts on Christmas Day, and the only place to stop it was in the Morgue.

I was standing by two of the bodies, looking at the familiar toe tags. The Doctor walked in, grimacing. “Urgh. Talk about Bleak House.”

The rest of our group follower in behind  

Rose was still trying to stop this. She couldn’t fully grasp Gwyneth’s determination. She was doing this for her mother and father, believing the Gelth to be Angels. I couldn’t stop her without telling her the Truth. “The thing is, Doctor, the Gelth don’t succeed, ‘cos I know they don’t. I know for a fact there weren’t corpses walking around in 1869.”

“Times change, Rose.” I said to her.  _ Oh Story, I need to give Rose and the Doctor nicknames.  _ “Every action in the past changes something in the future. Your entire past can change in a blink, and you probably wouldn’t ever notice the difference. Nothing is fixed, and nothing is safe.”

Rose tilted her head in slight fear. It was a startling concept to wrap one’s head around. My whole work life revolves around the knowledge that too many rocks thrown into the river would change it’s flow.  _ Stopping what happens tonight could change the entire universe. _

_ Oh, they have to be good nicknames too. Not Rosie or Dumbo, those are too easy. Something better, something  _ them _. _

“Doctor, Terra, I think the room is getting colder.” Charles commented.

I heard the whispers of the Gelth before I saw the ghost. “Here they come.” Rose said.

“Let’s just hope it goes well.” I said, dryly. My eyes kept a wary watch over the blue gas as it formed the form from earlier.

The Gelth was almost smiling, a strange thing to see in gas form. “You’ve come to help. Praise the Doctor. Praise him.”

I turned to the Doctor, once again asking him with my eyes if he was sure. They sent there focus on him, knowing he would be their only full supporter.  _ Honestly, it’s almost like watching Jack Fenton wear ‘Vote For Vlad’ t-shirts. _

He looked back to the Gelth, probably ignoring me for his own safety.

“Promise you won’t hurt her.” Rose shouted.

“Hurry! Please, so little time.” The Gelth said, not answering Rose. “Pity the Gelth.”

They knew it would kill her, they knew. Those damn gaseous ghosts knew the link would kill her and they just expected us to go thru with this?!

The Time Lord was completely fine, marching up to the head of the group. “I’ll take you somewhere else after the transfer.” He told them. “Somewhere you can build  _ proper _ bodies. This isn’t a permanent solution, all right?”

“My angels.” The three of us turned to her. “I can help them live.” Gwyneth looked at the Doctor pleadingly.

The Doctor looked back to the Gelth.  “Okay, where’s the weak point?”

“Here, beneath the arch.” The Gelt said.

Gwyneth marched under the Gelth, her body slowly being covered in it. I held back a wince. “Beneath the arch.”

Rose gave it one last try. “You don’t have to do this.”

“My angels.” Gwyneth said. I walked up to her, pulling Rose away. It was too late. She was already gone.

“Establish the bridge.” The Gelth ordered. I was gripping Rose’s arm tightly, trying not to panic. “Reach out to the void. Let us through!”

“Yes, I can see you. I can see you.” I frowned at the joy in her voice. She didn’t even know... “Come!”

“Bridgehead establishing.”

“Come to me. Come to this world, poor lost souls!”

“Doc.” I leaned over to him.

“Quiet!” The Doctor whispered.

“I got a bad feeling about this.” I admitted.

“It is begun.” The Gelth cheered. “The bridge is made.”

Gwyneth opened her mouth, ghosts flying out. I watched all of them, letting Rose’s hand go. My hands balled into fists, waiting for a chance to fight. They may have taken Gwyneth, but they are  _ not _ taking anyone else.

“She has given herself to the Gelth.” The ghost said. “The bridge is open. We descend.”

As soon as the ghost turned red, I stop protectively in front of the humans. I glared, thinking of the best way to get them out without them getting hurt. 

“The Gelth will come through in force.” The Gelth growled.

“You said that you were few in number.” Charles shouted in a panic.

“A few  _ billion _ .” The Gelth said, much to it’s sadistic pleasure. “And all of us in need of corpses.”

Two of the dead bodies got up, walking around in search of new hosts.

“Gwyneth, stop this.” Sneed ordered. “Listen to your master. This has gone far enough.”

“Sneed, Gwyneth can’t stop this!” I shouted at him. The man turned to angrily glare, but stopped at seeing my almost snarl. “Get down!” I barked at him, just before a Gelth corpse could wrap it’s arm around Sneed.

The corpse growled, but I was able to pull Sneed out of reach. The others back away in fright.

“What are they doing?” Rose asked.

“Looking for corpses, and I see five waiting for pickings!” I shouted, standing as a sort of guard in front of the others.

The Doctor chose  _ that  _ moment to admit his wrong doings. “I think it’s gone a little bit wrong.”

“Ya think?!” I growled, keeping wary eyes on the Gelth. 

“No.” Charles muttered.

“We need bodies. All of you.” The Gelth that tried killing Sneed said. “Dead. The human race. Dead.”

Slowly, the three of us started backing away to the wall. I made sure to stay at the head of the pack. The Gelth bodies weren’t at full capacity, so they were cornering us at a slow pace. There wasn’t a way to the door, not without getting stopped by a Gelth.

Sneed and Charles had somehow managed to get to the door. I looked to them, face determined.  _ They could get out, I hope. _

“Gwyneth, stop them!” The Doctor shouted to her. “Send them back now!”

She couldn’t. She still thought they were angels. The bridge was open, and the Gelth were loose.

“Five more bodies. Convert them.” The Gelth ordered the dead. “Make them vessels for the Gelth.”

The Doctor opened a metal gate, Rose and I ran behind it. Once we were in, the Doctor hid with us and closed the gate. I was stuck in the corner of this little hole, with Rose and Doc standing together.

“Doctor, I can’t. I’m sorry.” Charles said. “This new world of yours is too much for me. I’m so-”

There was a loud screech, and the two men ran off. I gave myself a pat on the back for getting Sneed out.  _ Save one life, we save the world. _

That feeling of glory lasted another two seconds, when the Gelth started pounding on the metal gate. My hand suddenly clung to my side, eyes widening in fear.

_ I LEFT MY BAG IN THE TARDIS! _

In my rush to get out and enjoy Christmas, I had left my bag behind in that infernal closet! That was the closest thing I would allow myself to have in terms of comfort, and I stupidly left it behind! There may have been something useful in there!

My hand instead went to my necklace, clutching the metal purple lollipop charm.  _ Come on, Terra, keep it together! _

“Give yourself to glory.” The dead drooled, banging against the metal bars holding them back. “Sacrifice your lives for the Gelth.”

“I trusted you.” The Doctor scolded. Although who he was scolding, I had no idea.  “I pitied you!”

“We don’t want your pity.” The dead shouted. I rolled my eyes, still holding my necklace. “We want this world and all it’s flesh.”

“Not while I’m alive.” The Doctor promised.

“Then live no more.” They said simply.

“You’ll have to get through  _ me  _ first!” I shouted at them, wanting to kick at the gate so as to somehow startle them.  _ It wouldn’t do to much. If anything, the bars might break and let them through. _

The metal of the necklace felt cool in my hand, it almost guiding me back to a place of calm.  _ Storyline help these things if they kill me. Then they’ll have a Darcy Anderson on their butts.  _

“But I can’t die.” Rose said suddenly. She looked at me, and I looked at her grimly. “Tell me I can’t.” She went to the Doctor. “I haven’t even been born yet. It’s impossible for me to die. Isn’t it?” She was almost pleadingly.

There was a pause as the Doctor looked from Rose, to myself. “I’m sorry.” He said, and I knew he truly meant it.

“No. I’m sorry.” I told the Doctor, finding myself full of fruit as I looked over at Gwyneth. “I should have done more to stop it.” The Doctor eyes were on me, I could feel it. I didn’t look away from the dead girl.  _ She was braver than any of us. _

“But it’s  _ 1869 _ .” Rose argued. “How can I die now?”

The Doctor’s eyes went off me, and my back slumped against the old stone wall. “Time isn’t a straight line. It can twist into any shape.”  _ Oh Story, I almost snorted. Wibbly wobbly, timey wimey.  _ “You can be born in the twentieth century and die in the nineteenth and it’s all my fault. I brought you both here.”

The Londoner sighed, slumping against the wall with me. “It’s not your fault. I wanted to come.”

“Yeah.” I grinned. “I would’ve gotten myself into trouble anyway.”

“What about me?” The Time Lord shot back. “I saw the fall of Troy, World War Five. I pushed boxes at the Boston Tea Party. Now I’m going to die in a dungeon in  _ Cardiff _ .”

_ ‘I’ve met Queen Elizabeth, Marie Antoinette, every Disney princess, Captain Jack Sparrow of the Black Pearl, Robin Hood the fox, Nemo and his family. I fought in the Clone Wars alongside Master Yoda. I fought in the war between the Huns and China. _

_...and I will  _ not _ be killed by zombies! _

I winced. I had been avoiding using the z-word.  _ Those undead things are  _ _ terrifying _ .

“It’s not just dying.” Rose brought up. “We’ll become one of them.”

_ ‘Yeah. Thanks. Needed to hear that.’ _ My necklace suddenly felt heavy on my neck, like a reminder.  _ ‘What would Darcy want me to do?’ _ I reached out, holding the girl’s hand. “Well they aren’t getting me without a fight.” I said, giving Rose a mischievous smile. 

Rose grinned back, as if my smile gave her confidence. The two of us looked to the Doctor. “We’ll go down fighting, yeah?” Rose said.

“Yeah.” The Doctor nodded, still worried at the coming threat of death.

“Together?” Rose and I asked.

The Doctor nodded again. “Yeah.”

Rose squeezed my hand a bit tighter, and I squeezed both my fists. The necklace felt lighter, though gave me strength.

“I’m so glad I met you two.” The Doctor said, making sure to give us both wide smiles.

“Me too.” Rose said.

“You guys are crazy.” I commented, grinning at them. They smiled back. “Must be why I hang around you.”

We laughed, but a short laugh.

My ears caught a foreign noise. Turning to it, I could faintly hear the sounds of someone running down the stairs. I snorted, remembering who it was.

The author ran back in, excitedly. It was no surprise Sneed didn’t follow after him.  _ Hey, whatever he does now is on him. I personally hope he’s telling the police about this, and then gets thrown in the looney bin. _

_...okay nothing  _ that  _ harsh. I’m just angry about what he did to Rose and how he treated Gwyneth okay? _

“Docto! Terra! Turn  _ off _ the flame, turn  _ up _ the gas!” Charles shouted at us. “Now, fill the room, all of it, now!”

The Doctor stared at the man, shocked. “What’re you doing?”

“Oh my Story.” I gaped. “That’s genius!” I grinned at the Doctor. “I’m starting to see the appeal of Charlie!” Then, I started searching for a gas light within reach.  _ Damn it. Not in reach. _

“Turn it all on.” Charles went on, rubbing up to one of the lamps. “Flood the place!”

“Brilliant.” The Doctor turned to me. “Gas.”

I nodded. “It makes sense.” The airways already starting to fill with gas, but the respiratory bypass was kicking in for me.

Rose was not so lucky. “What, so we choke to death instead?”

“Am I correct, Terra, Doctor? These creatures are gaseous.” Charles stated.

“Fill the room with gas, it’ll draw them out of the host.” The Doctor said, getting that joy back in his voice. “Suck them into the air like poison from a wound!”

I grinned, turning to Charles. The bodies were leaving us three behind, going after the new threat. Redpath and Mrs. Peace came down from the stairs, apparently having followed him. “Charlie boy, they’re coming for you!”

Charles blanched. “I hope, oh Lord, I hope that this theory will be validated soon, if not immediately.”

“Plenty more!” The Doctor shouted before pulling on the gas pipe.

Immediately, the Gelth were all pulled from their hosts and let out into the air.

“It’s working.” Charlie cheered.

“Except now, we have a bigger problem!” I shouted, pointing out the fact that the Gelth were angry and floating in the air.

The portal had ceased around Gwyneth, so I took the chance.

I ran out of the alcove, going up to her. “Gwyneth, I’m sorry. You have to send them back! They’re liars, not Angels!”

She frowned. “Liars?”

“Yes.” Shaking my head, I pushed a hand in my hair.  _ ‘I hate this part.’ _

The Doctor walked up to my side. The two of us walked closer to Gwyneth. “Look at me. If your mother and father could look down and see this, they’d tell you the same.” The Doctor said, gently. “They’d give you the strength.”

“Cause they believe you can do it, and so do I!” I encouraged.

“Now send them back!” We both pleaded.

“I can’t breathe.” Rose coughed.

“Charles, get her out.” The Doctor ordered.

_ Oh. I should be leaving too. Doc might be(I am  _ not _ making that his nickname) suspicious if I’m not choking).  _

The author was guiding her away. She pulled herself out of his arms. “I’m not leaving her.”

“They’re too strong.” Gwyneth said, looking weak.

“Gwyneth, you don’t know until you try.” I encouraged. She shook her head.

“Remember that world you saw?” The Doctor said. “Rose and Terra’s world? All those people. None of it will exist unless you send them back through the rift.”

“I can’t send them back.” Gwyneth looked down at her apron. “But I can hold them. Hold them in this place, hold them here.” She pulled out a matchbox“Get out.”

“You can’t!” Rose screamed. The Doctor held her back, just in time.

“Leave this place!” Gwyneth pleaded.

“Rose, Terra, get out. Go now. I won’t leave her while she’s still in danger.” The Doctor promised. I walked up to Rose, taking hold of her hand. “Now go!”

I nodded, letting Charles and Rose walk away. With what little time I had, I turned to Gwyneth. “I’m sorry.” I said to her.

She smiled kindly. “Come on, leave that to me.” The Doctor said, holding out his hand.

I shook my head, guiding Rose out of the morgue. The whole building was cold, and filling with gas. Rose was able to hold in some air, but Charles was coughing through his handkerchief.

“This way.” He coughed, helping us get to the front door.

I loved this respiratory bypass. It helped me get to the door before them, holding it open for the two humans. They ran into the street, with a minute to spare. I kept it open for the Doctor.

“Where’s Sneed?” I asked Charles.

The author coughed. “He-He ran, Terra. I haven’t the slightest idea where to.”

I sighed, still holding open the door. “Damn it. At least he’s not inside.”

That was when I caught sight of the Doctor. He was barreling to the door. The two of us barely made it out of range before the building blew.

“This reminds me of Hendricks.” I joked, trying to lighten the mood. The Doctor turned one corner of his mouth into a grin.

 

==CON==

 

Rose walked up to the Doctor. She was frowning, almost holding back her emotions. “She didn’t make it.” She said. I held her hand.

The Doctor calmed himself. “I’m sorry. She closed the rift.” He looked back to the fire raging Sneed’s building.

Charles stared as well. “At such a cost. The poor child.” he shook his head at the injustice.

The Doctor frowned, pleading with Rose to understand what he was trying to say. “I did try, Rose, but Gwyneth was already dead. She had been for at least five minutes.”

“What do you mean?” Rose asked.

“She died when she opened the bridge.” I told Rose. “It was the only way to the Gelth could get through. They used the gas off of her dead body to form the bridge.”

The young girl was horrified. “But she can’t have. She spoke to us. She helped us. She saved us. How could she have done that?”

“There are more things in Heaven and Earth than are dreamt of in your philosophy.” Charles said, ever the poet. He looked to the Doctor and I. “Even for you, Doctor, Terra.”

I smiled at him. “ _ There are some secrets which do not permit themselves to be told. _ ” I said, quoting Poe. Charles smiled with me.

“She saved the world.” Rose said, forlorn. “A servant girl. No one will ever know.”

“We’ll know.” I said, holding her hand and looking her right in the eyes. “And as long as we know, Rose, that’ll be all she needs.”

The young girl seemed to accept this answer, squeezing my hand back.

The four of us all looked up at the burning building, saying goodbye to the brave girl.

 

==CON==

 

The Doctor walked up to the TARDIS, glancing back to the author that had followed after us.

It had been a short walk back. There has still been no sign of Sneed, the man having decided to leave this night behind. That was alright, as long as he was alive. That was the job.  _ Saved three people in one day. Man, that’s helping me. _

_ ‘Still.’ _ A voice came back to my mind, one that hadn’t been there since I bought my clothes. It didn’t feel as harsh as before, meaning it must of been a creation of my own subconscious. Terrific.  _ ‘It’ll never be enough. You can never clean off that much  _ red _. The Moxx of Balhoon still died, not to mention Cassandra. Gwyneth died, and you just let her. That family you have in your journal will always be dead because of you.’ _

I forced the thoughts away, reaching up to my necklace. If Darcy were here, she’d punch me. She would tell me not to get hung up over it, because that was all in the past. She could never wrap her head around feeling guilty for what you did, just that I would always sulk when someone died.

_ ‘People die, sis. It’s just the world works. The only people who don’t are the two of us. You shouldn’t feel guilty because they died, at least stop beating yourself up about it.’ _

I sighed, a bit more content. It was just the way world worked...

“Right then, Charlie boy, I’ve just got to go into my, er, shed.” The Doctor lied. “Won’t be long.” He jammed his key into the slot. I leaned against the TARDIS, her exterior shell warming me up. 

“What are you going to do now?” Rose asked Charles.

“Back to London, I’m guessing.” I said, my voice almost sounding disappointed. “Write some more stories, or perform old ones.”

Charles shook his head, beaming. “I shall take the mail coach back to London, quite literally post-haste.” The author explained. “This is no time for me to be on my own. I shall spend Christmas with my family and make amends to them. After all I’ve learned tonight, there can be nothing more vital.”

“You’ve cheered up.” The Doctor commented.

“Exceedingly!” Charles laughed. “This morning, I thought I knew everything in the world. Now I know I’ve just started. All these huge and wonderful notions, Doctor, Terra.” I grinned, tipping an imaginary hat to him. “I’m inspired. I must write about them.”

I grinned, chuckling. After seeing the Doctor fanboy over him, it was nice to see Charles let loose and have some fun himself.

“Do you think that’s wise?” Rose asked.

“I shall be subtle at first.” Charles added the last bit. “The Mystery of Edwin Drood still lacks an ending.” He walked closer to the couple, conspiratorially. I leaned back against the TARDIS, listening in. “Perhaps the killer was  _ not _ the boy’s uncle. Perhaps he was not  _ of this Earth _ . The Mystery of Edwin Drood _ and the Blue Elementals _ . I can spread the word, tell the truth.” The man had said it with such determination that I couldn’t help feeling proud.

The Doctor shook his hand, firmly. _ He inspired his favorite author, I’m surprised he hasn’t keeled over.  _ “Good luck with it. Nice to meet you. Fantastic.” He went back to to unlocking the TARDIS.

Rose walked up to him. “Bye, then, and thanks.” She shook his hand, and kissed his cheek.

Charles stuttered. “Oh, my dear. How modern.”

I hopped up, giving his hand a quick shake. “I’m might those books of your’s another try. If they’re anything like you, I’m sure they’ll be terrific.” The Doctor had the door open, so I walked to it.

“Thank you, but, I don’t understand.” Charles said, making us look back to him. “In what way is this goodbye? Where are you going?”

“You’ll see.” The Doctor said. “In the shed.”  _ Nine, your sass is showing. _

“Upon my soul, Doctor, it’s one riddle after another with you.” Charles huffed. “But after all these revelations, there’s one mystery you still haven’t explained. Answer me this. Who are you?”

The Time Lord paused, half a foot in the TARDIS.

Rose and I looked up at the Doctor, wondering if he would answer him, what his answer would be. Rose had only seen two days worth of it, whereas I had seven seasons. I think I win, but it’s not like it’s a contest. If it was, I would win.

The Doctor grinned at Charles. “Just a friend passing through.”

“But you have such knowledge of future times.” “I don’t wish to impose on you, but I must ask you. My books. Doctor, do they last?”

“Oh, yes!” The Doctor said with a laugh, as did I.

“For how long?”

“They’ll never stop.” I told him. “Not if I have any say in it.”

Charles nodded in thanks.

“Right. Shed.” The Doctor said. “Come on, Terra, Rose.”

“In the box?” The man from the nineteenth century asked. “The three of you?”

“Down boy.” The Doctor scolded, teasingly. “See you.” He walked of into the TARDIS, Rose behind him.

“You may wanna wait around.” I told Charles. “I bet it’s really cool from this end.”

Leaving the man with his confusion, I walked into the TARDIS. “Doesn’t that change history if he writes about blue ghosts?” Rose asked.

“In a week’s time it’s 1870, and that’s the year he dies.” The Doctor said sadly, bringing up the outside view on the monitor. “Sorry. He’ll never get to tell his story.”

“Oh, no.” Rose sighed. The three of us watched him on the monitor, he was staring at the TARDIS while shaking his head. “He was so nice.”

“But in your time, he was already dead.” The Doctor reminded her. “We’ve brought him back to life, and he’s more alive now than he’s ever been, old Charlie boy. Let’s give him one last surprise.”

The Doctor pulled down the handbrake, letting the TARDIS hum. I leaned back against the handrails, smiling with content.

My eyes widened, and I hopped off the rails.

_ MY BAG IS IN THE CLOSET! _

 

==CON==

 

In a whole other part of the time stream, a young girl sat on one of the couches in her new apartment. She was talking into someone on the phone, occasionally laughing.

“And then you guys actually went into the basement?” The girl laughed, sharpening her blood red nails. “Dude, isn’t that one of the things you’re never supposed to do in horror movies?”

She paused as the other person spoke. The girl snorted. “I don’t care if this is actually one of your nerd shows. It still applies.” She paused again as he friend responded.

Darcy Anderson rolled her amethyst eyes, hopping off the couch. She tilted her head,trapping the phone between her ear and her shoulder. Her sister had called her a few minutes ago, immediately going on a long explanation of where she had been now. Darcy planned on seeing her late tonight, and making it worth her while.

She wouldn’t tell her sister that, obviously. Then Terra would demand she go back somewhere else and stay as far away as possible.

She snickered, hearing whatever her sister was saying. She grabbed a pair of black ballerina flats, tying them on.

“Oh you are making that up.” The assassin snorted. There was a quick shout from the phone, followed by an argument. “You did  _ not _ go into the morgue to stop ghosts on Christmas day in 1869, with Charles Dickens and the Doctor!” She laughed, fixing the hem of her ballgown. “That’s the most us thing you’ve ever done.”

There was another reply. “Look, I’d would to listen to you for a bit longer, but I don’t want to. So bye.” Darcy said. She grinned at her sister’s usual goodbye. “Wouldn’t dream of it, sis.”

She ended the call, hiding the phone in her bust. She turned a mirror. “Well, don’t I just look like a french whore.” Darcy tussled with her inky black hair, making sure it was perfect for the night’s events.

Her purple eyes widened in sudden fear. “The Unquiet Dead.” She breathed. “Terra just did The Unquiet Dead, and after that is...”

She pulled her phone out oh her bust, calling someone on her speed dial. “Drax, we have a lead. The Tiger is in London, March 25 2006. He’ll be at the Powell Estates.” There was a pause. She glared at the mirror, glaring at the man on the other end of the line. “He’s gonna try to make a grab for Star Lady.”

The man gave a curt reply, cutting off their call. Darcy sighed, running her nails through her in uncertainty. “I hate that guy.” Her hand went to her necklace, a metal charm of a pink lollipop. “We’ll get him, sis. We have to.”


	6. Aliens in London

The Doctor (after letting us change back to our previous clothes) took us back to our original time.

It felt nice to have my hoodie back, as well as my bag. They felt like a part of me, a part of who I was, my identity just like the Doctor has his screwdriver and leather jacket.

Rose walked out of the TARDIS, happily looking around at the sunshine. When I walked out into the world, I felt that time sense ticking at the back of my mind. The Doctor had to have sensed it to, so why didn’t he say anything before Rose to see her mother?

“How long have we been gone?” Rose asked.  _ Aw, that’s why.  _

The Doctor was leaning against the door, arms crossed. He was ever so smug, proud of himself for the past day. “About twelve hours.” He answered Rose.

_ Twelve hours, and three hundred sixty five days.  _ I thought, dryly. “You sure about that?” I asked.

His smug grin became wider. “Absolutely positive.”

“That’s what you said about Naples, 1860.” I reminded him.

The Doctor sat up against the TARDIS. “That’s why I double checked when we landed. Earth, Powell Estates, twelve hours after we left.”

“Forgive me if I’m not convinced.” I remarked, stuffing my hands in my hoodie. My hand grabbed my Dad’s old phone, my mind going back to my conversation with Darcy while I changed.

The Doctor grinned, waiting for the moment to prove me wrong. He obviously didn’t know the storm that was about to fall over his head,  _ all of the jokes I will tell. _ I stuck my tongue out at him.

Rose laughed at our exchange. She sobered up, walking to the apartment building. “Oh. Right, I won’t be long. I just want to see my mum.”

“What’re you going to tell her?” The Doctor asked.

I snorted. My mom never knew what I was doing, ever. She never knew if I was getting abducted by a serial killer, or a monster or if I went out to bars or got caught up in the Civil War. She never knew I time traveled to the future or to the past. She didn’t even know about Darcy, and I hoped she never did. Mom was better off out of my life, let her worry about my brothers and her job and Dad. It wasn’t like I wanted her attention, or approval, or to tell me she was proud of me. Nope, wasn’t one of my goals.

Rose turned to him, curious herself. “I don’t know. I’ve been to the year 5 billion and only been gone, what, twelve hours?” The Doctor and I grinned. Rose shook her head, continuing on her walk. “No, I’ll just tell her I spent the night at Shareen’s. See you later.”

I turned to the Doctor, finding myself smiling at Rose’s supposedly perfect excuse. It made me almost want to meet Shareen. She sounded like a fun girl, to be honest.

“Oh.” I turned back to Rose, seeing her giving us both a firm look. “Don’t you lot disappear.”

I held my hands up defensively. Though, my smirk made no promises. Rose gave me a look, going up to see her mum. My hands went back to the hoodie pocket, a natural position like the Doctor crossing his arms.

“What do you tell your  _ friend that isn’t a friend _ ?” The Doctor asked, once Rose was back in her building.

I shrugged, as if the answer was obvious. “The truth.” The Doctor seemed on edge by that statement. “I don’t lie to her.”

“It’s dangerous. Remember, I told you. People would be killed.” The Doctor reminded me, walking closer to me. “She could be in trouble.”

That made me snort, too quick for me to cover it up. “Sorry, but.” It changed from snorts to chuckles. I started walking around a bit, hoping to stifle my laughter before it went full blown. I kicked a lone water jug, happily. “My  _ friend who isn’t a friend _ gets in more trouble than I do. She can handle it.”

The Doctor walked with me, a serious look on his face. “Terra, I wasn’t kidding.”

“Neither was-” My eyes caught the ‘CAN YOU HELP?’ poster for Rose. “ _ Biscuits _ .”

The Doctor followed my line of sight, seeing the poster of Rose’s face in the breeze. The two of us walked up to it, concerned. He slammed his hand on it, stopping it from blowing away. A smiling picture of Rose was on the side, as well as a date of when she was last seen-

“Twelve  _ months _ ?” I growled, snapping my head around to glare at him.

The Doctor just ran off to tell Rose.

“Damn it.” I grumbled, running off down an alleyway. I had to work fast.

 

==CON==

 

With the help of an old friend (not Darcy, she’s better with chemicals than tech), I had a program that connected to the phone lines to hack phone calls. Just a few clicks was all it took to direct Jackie’s home line to the phone Doc enhanced. Her number was plastered on Rose’s poster, so all I had to do was wait for her to use the phone.

It made the most sense, simply hacking into the phone network rather than listen in on a police radio. It was slim, but Logan might have a radio of his own. If he knew my real name, then he would have access to time travel (from an enemy or Time Agency), and Logan know have followed me to London 2005.

Once in town, he would have stolen a police radio to keep track of me. All he would have to wait for was the biggest event (plastic dummies to life/ship crashing into Big Ben). After the crash, Logan would have figured out where I was and seen Rose. My new friend would have led him to Jackie, and maybe Mickey.

I could only assume all of this. Maybe I’m giving Logan too much credit. Maybe I’m just being paranoid, and need to take it slow.

_‘But what if I’m right?_ _What if he heard Jackie call 999, and he’s the cop that comes to check on her? Oh Story, he’ll find me. What he did to those women, to my future self. Those wounds couldn’t have been self inflicted. And look how angry he had made Eleven! No person who does that is looking for giggles!’_

_ ‘I couldn’t let Logan find me.’ _ It was the thing Four was risking her life for. She had her mind assaulted, as well as her body, and in the end probably gave her life so I would be afraid.  _ “You remember how scared Two was? She needs to be  _ that _.” _

I shook the paranoia away (for now), getting back to hacking into Jackie’s phone line. While I waited for her call, I went to my Infinity Bag to search for my a British officer uniform.  _ ‘Worked as a beat cop for two years, and I keep the uniform for Halloween. Now, I’m using it to sorta kinda break the law. Lassiter is  _ so _ proud of me.’ _

When I found it, I made sure no one was coming into the alleyway so I could change.

“Damn idiot driver.” I grumbled, holding the silent phone up to my ear to keep it from dropping. How did these pants still fit? “Missed twelve months, then twelve years. Should’ve retaken that stupid driver’s test.”

*ring* *ring*

I answered the call. “999.” I said in a Welsh accent, I sounded like Gwen Cooper to be honest. The thought almost made me smirk. “What’s your emergency?” I hopped into my other pant leg, pulling it up around my waist. THe belt would have to be tighten a few notches...

_ “Yes. Hello. I’m...I’m Jackie Tyler, and my daughter, Rose, she’s come home.” _ Jackie’s voice came over the line. I buttoned up the pants, getting out the bright yellow police jacket.  _ “There’s this man. The one that took her away. He’s here too. What do I do?” _

“Ma’am.”  _ Story, it sounded like ‘Mum’ in this accent.  _ “I need you to keep calm. Where’s your house?”

_ “Powell Estates. We’re in apartment 160.” _ Jackie said. She was sounding panicked, worried. I pulled out my white button up shirt, quickly throwing it on over my black tank top. The jacket came on next.  _ “Oh God, she’s been gone a whole year and she’s home.” _

From behind her, I could barely hear the Doctor and Rose muttering to each other. Time Lady hearing, gold star. I couldn’t hear their words, but Rose was a bit agitated and the Doctor was apologetic. I smirked at the mental image.  _ Rose, hands crossed over her chest, staring down at the Doctor. The almighty last of the Time Lords, hands clasped begging for forgiveness from the scary blonde teenager. _

I remembered Jackie was panicking, that I had a job to do. That made me pull out the hat, pressing the phone to my ear with a free hand. “Miss Tyler-”

“ _ Missus _ .” Jackie corrected, absentmindedly.

I winced. That would be  _ fun  _ with the accent. “Missus Tyler-” No. That sounded Scottish. Damn it! “I need you to stay calm.”  _ That sounded like clam. Why didn’t I just stick with an American accent? _ “I can have a copper there in five minutes. Is that alright?”

_ “Yes. Yes, that’s fine. Oh, please hurry.” _ Jackie said.  _ “I just don’t want her leaving again.” _

“I understand, Missus Tyler.” The hat meant having to take off my headband. Dangnabbit. My amber eyes rolled, hesitantly pulling it off and fitting my hat over my choppy brown hair. “They’ll just be a tick.”

_ “Thank you.” _ Jackie hung up the phone.

My phone went into my pocket. Giving my outfit a once over, I was actually really proud of it. I could make it by using my normal voice in her apartment, maybe dropping a few octaves.

 

==CON==

 

The walk up to her apartment was easy enough, giving me a chance to think out my plan for up there. It should be easy enough fooling Jackie, although there was no chance of hiding it from Rose and the Doctor.

What would I tell them on the roof about this? I was extremely paranoid about being abducted by a guy who amy or may not be in this time period? I didn’t want an innocent cop telling people about me, and then have Logan come to his house and kill him?

_ ‘Woah. Slow down, Terra.’ _ I thought to myself.  _ ‘You can’t just assume he’s gonna kill every person you meet.’ _

_ ‘He killed the first people I met.’ _ I argued.  _ ‘Then killed my family. That’s all I need.’ _

_ ‘They weren’t your family. They were your first self’s family. Your’s is in another reality.’ _

_ ‘Yeah, but he killed them anyway. He knew my name! He might hurt them. He might hurt the Doctor and Rose, or Mickey and Jackie. He might hurt  _ Darcy _. I’m not about to let that happen. That was what I told Four. I will always do I can to protect my friends.’ _

_ ‘So you’re fighting him by running away from him?’ _

_ ‘I’m not fighting a man I haven’t  _ met _. That’s plain stupid.’ _

I stopped, two floors below Jackie’s. It occurred to me that I was once again having an argument with myself, and I think I was losing. That was a bit pathetic, even for me.

When I made it to her apartment, I checked it to make sure I hadn’t been too fast. I had another minute before I was expected. Reaching into my bag, I pulled out a small red notepad and a black pen. What? My journal would look out of place with this outfit. When I go, I go all out.

I counted down, bobbing my head with the imaginary tick-tocks, waiting for the exact moment it would be safe to knock. When the countdown ended, I knocked politely.

Jackie had answered almost immediately. I guess she had been waiting by the door. Behind her, deeper in the apartment, I could see the Doctor facing away. He must’ve been talking to Rose.

“Hello Ma’am. I’m Officer Johnson.” I nodded, keeping my voice even and low. My voice caught the Doctor’s attention. The Doctor looked surprised to see me there, dressed as I was. “You reported your missing daughter had come home?”

Jackie gave me a curious look, keeping her apartment blocked. “What are you, a little kid?”

I sighed, lifting the pen to my notepad. “Ma’am, please. I’m here to help with the 999 call. You said your daughter had abducted, and was recently returned?”

Jackie still seemed confused over my youth. She backed away from the door, guiding me in. “Yes. Oh, come in.” I smiled politely, following her in the apartment. She looked over to Rose. I did as well. Rose looked at me in shock.

I turned to Jackie, pointing my pen at the young blonde sitting a nearby chair. “Is this your daughter, ma’am?”

Jackie hesitated, and then nodded. She turned to her daughter, who was looking at me confusedly. I shrugged, giving her a look that said I would explain, passing that look to the Doctor. He seemed a bit embarrassed with the whole situation.

“The hours I’ve sat here, days and weeks and months, all on my own. I thought you were dead, and where were you?  _ Travelling. _ ” She marched to Rose’s face, enraged.

Obviously she had enough time to recuperate herself after calling 999. I started making random scribbles on my notepad, mostly playing a game of dots with myself. “What the hell does that mean,  _ travelling _ ? That’s no sort of answer.” She turned to me, standing beside me while glaring at Rose. “You ask her. She won’t tell me. That’s all she says.  _ Travelling _ .”

“That’s what I was doing.” Rose said, softly.

“When your passport’s still in the drawer?” Jackie shouted, pointing over in the direction of Rose’s room. “It’s just one lie after another.”

Hence another reason I would never tell my family about my day job. This was the last thing I wanted for them. Darcy had taken it really well, granted she had been six. My parents flipped out when a new show about Pokemon came on.

Rose frowned, upset at how her mother had felt. “I meant to phone. I really did. I just I forgot.” 

“What, for a year? You forgot for  _ a year _ ?” Jackie ranted. “And I am left sitting here. I just don’t believe you.” The mother walked over to her couch, shaking her head. “Why won’t you tell me where you’ve been?”

“Actually, it’s my fault.” The three women all turned to him, making him shuffle on his feet awkwardly. “I sort of er, employed Rose as my companion.” 

I gave him a mischievous look. Oh, I was sure he could see the glint in my eyes. “When you say companion, is this a sexual relationship?” My pen gestured between them.

Rose and the Doctor crinkled their faces in disgust. The Doctor also threw in a  _ ‘oh, you are  _ so _ going to get it later’ _ glare. “No.” They both argued. I tsked, but wrote that down.

_ ‘Denial.’ _ I scribbled, fighting a smirk.

Jackie marched up to his face. It was funny, because she was a good half foot shorter than him and he looked just the tiniest bit embarrassed. “Then what is it?” I will admit, I had to work really hard to hide my smile at the scene. I felt like Slapsgiving had come back again.  _ ‘Slapsgiving 3: Tyler of Terror.’  _ “Because you, you waltz in here all charm and smiles, and the next thing I know, she vanishes off the face of the Earth!”

The Doctor looked to Rose and I for help, but I gave him no quarter.  _ ‘Should’ve been more careful when double checking.’ _

“How old are you then?” Jackie interrogated him. “Forty? Forty-five? What, did you find her on the Internet? Did you go online and pretend you’re a doctor?”

“I  _ am _ a Doctor.”

Jackie scoffed. “Prove it. Stitch this, mate!” She whacked the Doctor across the face, making him groan in pain.

My jaw dropped. _‘Tyler’s can_ _bitch_ _slap.’_ I scribbled, fighting laughter.

 

==CON==

 

The Doctor and I took to hiding on the roof while the Tyler women argued. I excused  _ Officer Johnson _ by saying the matter was sorted in the eyes of the law, and they could have a nice day. The two woman had barely noticed, choosing instead to stay in a tense silence.

I had taken off the uniform before the Doctor made it to the roof. My trusty purple hoodie was back on, as well as my armbands, and my jeans. The rest had been stored in my bag until they were needed.

To re-complete my look, I was putting my hair behind the headband. My hair was surprisingly thick, add in the hoodie and I was constantly wondering why I wasn’t sweating.

The Doctor was looking at the skyline, though I braced myself for either a scolding or intense questioning. “As soon as you knew we were late, you ran off.” The Doctor asked. I didn’t speak. “You come back dressed as an officer.” He gave me a side glance. “Why?”

It wasn’t safe to tell him, not Nine. Nine would probably throw some kind of angry fit, that I had to be lying. I stayed quiet on that matter. “Did you see your face after Jackie slapped you?” I changed topics, chuckling. “That’s not gonna go away for a long time.”

The Doctor didn’t take my bait. Okay, maybe using an embarassing moment would be the least likely to get him to talk. “Who are you, Terra Johnson?”

I smirked, leaning back against the roof. My hands stuffed themselves into my hoodie pocket, if for anything than so they would have something to do. “Wouldn’t you like to know?” Answering his questions with questions was a poor deflection, but on the same side it was the only one I had. Sharing Terra’s past should be easy, but I felt a faint connection to it. Why should I share this story, my story, with a man I met two days ago?

This story had been my fault, their deaths had been on me. Of course the person who killed them targeted me, I was an alien. If I hadn’t been with them, or if they hadn’t taken me in, or if I hadn’t caused any trouble, the Johnson’s might still be alive.

“Yeah, since you’re riding around in my TARDIS-”

“My TARDIS.” I jokingly corrected, smirking. This was a fun argument, who really had some control over the TARDIS. Personally, I think she has us wrapped around her multi-dimensional form and she knew it.

The Doctor huffed. “I have a right to know who you are.”

I looked up at him, giving him a hard look. My real age wouldn’t show in my gaze, just basic teenager annoyance. The Doctor stared back, and I suddenly had the idea of the two of us being Alpha wolves fighting for dominance. From experience, I knew not to look one in the eye longer than five seconds or else they saw it as an invitation to fight.

_ ‘When Rose asked him this, he lashed out at her. Is he expecting the same from me?’ _

No. He wanted answers. The Doctor had to know this all connected back to my letter, and to Logan. He wanted to know what Logan did that had me scared. Me, the girl who blew up a building full of aliens and laughed, and the girl who stared down the Gelth. What could scare me?

_ Logan, spiders, my old bullies, SuperBike, and vampires. Not necessarily in that order. _

I’m also scared that someone (Fourth Terra, Eleventh Doctor, Oswin) cared about me enough to basically give up their lives for me. Cause when someone cares about you that much,  _ they leave you _ .

“I have just as much right to know who you are.” I countered, shuffling on my two feet.  My two hearts thumped in my chest, getting on edge. “But you don’t trust me enough yet, so I won’t ask.”

The Doctor seemed a bit surprised. “You  _ won’t  _ ask?”

“Not until you’re ready to answer.” I said, easily. “And I only ask you owe me the same curtesy.”

There was a tense silence after, with the Doctor giving me the most perplexed look he had since we met.

It wasn’t a matter of it all essentially being a lie. It wasn’t a matter that I already knew the Doctor’s past. It was that neither of us really trusted the other. He may have been the Doctor, the nine hundred year old Last of the Time Lords, traveling about space and time in the TARDIS and using a sonic screwdriver, oh and he had two hearts. But, those are just facts. I hadn’t gotten to know the real Doctor.

It was similar on my side. I was an alien with two hearts, who thought herself the only one of her kind. I lost the only people I thought of as family, with only Darcy as a confidant. I was a hundred and seventy-nine years old, I have felt my heart stop beating in my chest, and I have seen many different kinds of evil in the world. To the Doctor, I was a teenage girl alone on the streets, with  _ some _ experience in aliens and violence. Not to mention what he overheard from Gwyneth’s psychic rant, and the scene down stairs in Jackie’s apartment.

We didn’t know each other. The two of us were strangers, with Rose included. I wanted to tell him who I was, I really did, but I still didn’t  _ completely _ trust him.

The awkward silence was broken by Rose, who had finally finished talking to her mother. She walked up, her jacket left behind in the apartment. She sat up on one of the ledges, the Doctor leaning next to her. I walked over, climbing up beside Rose.

“Where did you get that outfit?” Rose asked.

“Halloween.” I answered, honestly. “Never thought I’d use it again, to be honest.”

She nodded, accepting the answer. “Your family must be worried too.” She commented. “Have you called them?”

I gulped, nervous. My eyes turned downcast, avoiding both Rose and the Doctor. “I’m guessing your Shareen story didn’t cover it.”

She sighed. “No. I can’t tell her. I can’t even begin. She’s never going to forgive me.” Rose said, turning to the Doctor. “And we missed a year. Was it good?”

I had forgotten that Rose thought this was my time.  _ ‘It’s gonna come as a huge shock when she finds out this isn’t even my planet.’  _ The Doctor shrugged. “Middling.” 

“You’re so useless.” Rose turned her head from him, not making eye contact with me either.

The Time Lord turned to her. “Well, if it’s this much trouble, are you going to stay here now?” He asked, then looked at me. “Are you?”

“I’m debating.” I leaned on my knees, looking out at the city of London. “Can’t see a reason to stay.”

“But, your family.” Rose started up again. I shut my eyes, trying to tune her out.  _ ‘Oh, thanks. Give me guilt.’ _ “They have to be worried about you too.”  _ ‘Also guilt.’ _ “Don’t you at least want them to know you’re alive?”  _ ‘More guilt.’ _

“Can we shut up about my family?” I had hoped it came out a bit firmer, but instead my voice was wobbly with emotion.  _ ‘Thelma Luna, Leanna Johnson, and Chloe Johnson. They died because I made them my family, and Logan killed them. Eleven and Oswin. He killed them because they were trying to save me. My family is dead because of me.’ _

A sniffle followed the depressing thoughts, so I lifted my hand up to my nose to ward off tears. I forced my emotions away, getting back on track. My eyes were clenched shut, my fist tightening on my knee. It only made the emotions worse. “I already said I’m staying. Why don’t you answer the question?”

There was a pause from Rose, followed by a sigh.

“I don’t know.” She finally answered. “I can’t do that to her again, though.” She told the Doctor.

“Well, she’s not coming with us.” The Doctor agreed.

Rose and I started laughing. “No chance.” Rose said.

“I don’t do families.”

I laughed, leaning off my knees and instead wrapping my arms around myself. “Jackie  _ slapped  _ you.” My voice was more laugh than actual words.

“Nine hundred years of time and space, and I’ve never been slapped by someone’s mother.” The Doctor shook his head.

“Your face.”

“It  _ hurt _ !” He started rubbing his cheek.

“You’re so gay.” Rose teased him, suddenly going serious. “When you say nine hundred years?”

The Doctor nodded. “That’s my age.”

Rose sat higher up, crossing her legs. “My mum was right. That is one hell of an age gap.”

I whistled. He was older than me, and so far that was only a handful of other people. Rose blinked. “You’re nine hundred years old.”

The Doctor nodded. “Yeah.” He looked back out at London, a bored look on his face.

My brow quirked, while I started shaking my head at him. “That explains  _ so  _ much about you. Only old men could be as bad at driving as you.”

“Oi!” The Doctor said, defensively.

“Naples, 1860. London, 2005.” I listed. “And I have a feeling there were a lot more before Rose and I came along.”

The Doctor didn’t dignify that with a response, choosing instead to turn away.

The young blonde hopped off our seat, walking closer to the ledge. “Every conversation with you two just goes mental.” Rose commented, making me snicker. “There’s no one else I can talk to. I’ve seen all that stuff up there, the size of it, and I can’t say a word.”

I heard a faint whooshing sound, but ignored it. It was a bit too early for the ship to crash.

“Aliens and spaceships and things.” Rose went on. “And I’m the only person on planet Earth who knows they exist.”

No. That whooshing noise  _ was  _ the spaceship. Turning back, I was able to see it just as it passed over the Powell Estates. There was a loud horn, causing the three of us to duck down to avoid being hit. The large ship flew on by, flying across major other landmarks in London before finally tearing down Big Ben.

“Oh, that’s just not fair.”

“But it is pretty funny.”

 

==CON==

 

The three of us ran to the street, taking only minutes to reach a military block. It was no doubt UNIT, maybe even Torchwood. No, they were wearing the Red Hats. That was UNIT.

“It’s blocked off.” I said, grinning. That meant it was serious, and not some kind of prank.

“We’re miles from the centre. The city must be gridlocked.” Rose explained, sounding a bit more worried than the Doctor and I.  “The whole of London must be closing down.”

“I know.” The Doctor was beaming. “I can’t believe I’m here to see this.” I started laughing, him joining in. “This is fantastic!”

Rose looked at us, warily. “Did you know this was going to happen?”

“Nope.”

“Nu-uh.”

“Do you recognise the ship?”

“Nope.”

“Nu-uh.”

“Do you know why it crashed?”

“Nope.”

“Nu-uh.”

Rose shook her head at us. “Oh, I’m so glad I’ve got you two.” 

The Doctor grinned at her. “I bet you are.”

I flipped my hair back. “Who wouldn’t be?”

“This is what I travel for, Rose, Terra.” The Doctor explained, still excited. “To see history happening right in front of us.”

“Okay. Idea.” I turned to him. “We use the TARDIS to go see it. Park it inside a closet, or an old room, and see the ship.”

The Doctor shook his head. “Better not. They’ve already got one spaceship in the middle of London. I don’t want to shove another one on top.”

“Yeah, but yours looks like a big blue box. No one’s going to notice.” Rose remarked.

The Time Lord shook his head. “You’d be surprised. Emergency like this, there’ll be all kinds of people watching. Trust me. The TARDIS stays where it is.”

“So history’s happening right in front of us, and we’re stuck in traffic?” I asked. “Like  _ normal people? _ ” I shuddered, horrified at the idea.

“Yes, we are.” The Doctor said, not noticing my tone.

My voice scrunched up like I smelled something bad. “ _ Disgusting _ .” I curled my arms deeper in my pockets, looking around at all of the Londoners wandering around.

“We could always do what everybody else does.” Rose offered.

The Doctor and I turned to her, though mine was of shock. “Stop saying stuff like that.” I scolded, teasingly. “We stopped being like everyone else when we got inside the TARDIS.” This made the Doctor grin, almost in agreement.

Rose sneered back, teasing. She was looking at me with mischief. “We could watch it on TV.”

The Doctor blinked. He hadn’t thought of that. I shuddered, hating the idea of doing something so  _ normal _ .

Couldn’t we sneak past the guards in disguise? Or maybe Doc could use his UNIT connection to get us inside?

My job required I watch  _ a lot _ of TV, but watching the  _ news _ ? When it wasn’t about something  _ I _ did? Of  _ my own free will _ ? That’s... _ dull _ .

 

==CON==

 

The Doctor was flipping through the news channels, all of them saying the same amount of nothing. The only useful thing they did was show a clip of the ship.

At one point, word had gotten out that Rose had come back. People started coming in, from all over the Estates.

Jackie had barely blinked when she saw me on her couch. She must have assumed I was another kid from around the Estates, or something. She and the woman Ru were muttering about Rose leaving.

Honestly, it was like Sunday Night watching OUAT. Just thinking about my family back Home made me think about the one I had here. I rolled my eyes, deciding that Doc could handle the news on his own. These emotions needed a talking to.

“ _...they found a body.” _

_ The pig. _

The point my body stopped could have been a cartoon gag. I tilted my head in curiosity, spinning on the balls of my feet to the TV.

_ “It’s unconfirmed, but I’m being told a body has been found in the wreckage. A body of non-terrestrial origins. It’s being brought ashore.” _

Twenty minutes later, more people had entered the Tyler apartment, but the Doctor and I were seated in front of the TV.

_ “A body of some sort has been found inside the wreckage of the spacecraft.”  _

“Oh, guess who asked me out. Billy Crewe.” Jackie told the people in the room who cared.

_ “Brought to the nearest shore. Unconfirmed reports say that the body is of extraterrestrial origin. An extraordinary event unfolding here live here in Central London. The body is being transferred to a secure unit mortuary, the whereabouts is yet unknown. The roads in Central London are being-” _

It suddenly changed to a cooking show. I looked up at the Doctor, seeing him fighting with a young toddler.

I rolled my eyes, sitting up on my knees. My arms reached up for the boy, the Doctor happily tossing him over to me. The child hadn’t like it, but decade of babysitting and nannying helped me learn how to control rowdy kids.

The Doctor changed it back to the news in time for us to hear where the pig was.

_ “-Albion Hospital. We still don’t know whether it’s alive or dead. Whitehall is denying everything.” _ The newsman explained.  _ “But the body has been brought here, Albion Hospital. The road’s closed off. It’s the closest to the river.” _

I put the little boy on his feet, smiling politely. Kids had always been an easy thing for me, Dad even took to calling me The Baby Whisperer.

“Go get your mummy, dearie.” I instructed, pointing at all the adults. The boy was delighted at seeing Mummy, so he ran off quick as a bullet. 

_ “I’m being told that General Asquith is now entering the hospital. The building’s been evacuated. The patients have been moved out onto the streets. The police still won’t confirm the presence of an alien body contained inside those walls.” _

The Doctor and I exchanged a look. We  had to see it.

 

==CON==

 

Night had fallen some hours ago. The Doctor and I slipped out of the apartment in silence, hoping not to get caught by Rose.

“Why’re you following me?” The Doctor asked.

“They found a body.” I whispered, grinning. “Things always get interesting when they find a body.”

The Doctor was shocked by my answer. I blinked, realizing that sounded really bad. “Uh. I mean. We need to see what kind of alien it was, see if it’s actually dead.”

“You think whatever it is, that it’s still alive?” The Doctor asked. I nodded. “Why?”

“I don’t like believing something is dead unless I see it with my own eyes.”  _ ‘That was why the journal had photos of the Luna-Johnsons. _ ’ I thought. “And even then, I’m a hopeful skeptic.”  _ ‘Emily Prentiss, still don’t know how she did that.’ _

The Doctor grinned. “There’s a story behind that.”

I grinned back. “Yeah, and you’re not hearing it.”

“And where do you think you’re going?” Rose asked from behind us.

“Nowhere.” The Doctor and I said, a bit too quickly. Rose gave us a quirked brow. 

“It’s just a bit human in there for me.” He made a noise of disgust. “History just happened and they’re talking about where you can buy dodgy top-up cards for half price.”

“It’s too much like home.” I ended up saying, keeping my hands in the pocket. That was when I realized Rose was standing next to one of her posters.  _ ‘5’4? I’m 5’7! Officially taller than her!’  _ Rose stared at me after my excuse, and I noticed Doc’s eyes too. “Thought I’d keep him out of trouble.” I said while slowly nodding my head.

“We’re off on a wander, that’s all.” The Doctor

“Right.” The young blonde said, disbelieving. “There’s a spaceship on the Thames and you’re both just  _ wandering _ .” 

“Nothing to do with us.” The Doctor explained. “It’s not an invasion. That was a  _ genuine _ crash landing. Angle of descent, color of smoke, everything. It’s perfect.”

“It’s perfect.” I realized, looking to the Doctor to see if he noticed it too. Just like the Eye,  _ he was a bit slow _ .

Rose shrugged. “So?”

The Time Lord was trying  _ incredibly _ hard not to get in trouble. “So maybe this is it. First contact. The day mankind officially comes into contact with an alien race. I’m not interfering because you’ve got to handle this on your own. That’s when the human race finally grows up.” He smiled, all giddy. “Just this morning you were all tiny and small and made of clay. Now you can expand.” The Doctor laughed, proud.

I put on a smile. Oh, if only that were the case. Off in the apartment, I could hear a David Bowie song playing. (David Bowie is singing Starman in the background.) 

The Doctor “You don’t need us. Go and celebrate history. Spend some time with your mum.” 

“Promise you won’t disappear?” Rose asked, a heavy frown on her face.

The Doctor turned back to her, looking thoughtful. He reached into his pocket. “Tell you what. TARDIS key.” He walked over, handing it to her. “It’s about time you had one. See you later.”

While Rose looked down at her new key, the Doctor and I ran off.

“Oh. Here.” The Doctor said, tossing a key at me.

I grabbed it, smiling as the cool metal hit my hand. As we ran down the stairs, I worked to getting it on the necklace with Darcy’s charm.

He gave me a key. Did this mean he actually trusted me? What had brought that on? I had been dishonest with him from the get go, had argued with him every other minute, hadn’t told him a thing about my past. He still trusted me, why?

Was is because I showed him my letter? Was it because of my response to the questions about my family? Was it because we were both running from the past? Could...could he sense I was a Time Lady?

He said he would be able to feel it in his head, if there were any Time Lords out there. He couldn’t feel the Master because he was a human right now, but I was a full Time Lady. Were my walls around my head keeping him out? Was the TARDIS protecting me? It might have something to do with why I had an family on Earth, even though I had been born on Gallifrey.

Story bless me, please tell I wasn’t actually the Doctor’s kid hidden on Earth to protect me from the Time War. That’s just...that’s just horrible. I don’t think I could take it if that was my past.

Whichever answer it was, I just knew I had a new charm around my neck. It was also time to save a pig.

 

==CON==

 

The Doctor landed us in the Albion Hospital closet. He squeezed his way out, making room for me to crawl beside him.

I worked my way up beside him. “Does she  _ like _ being hit with a hammer?” I asked in a whisper, eyeing the console warily.

“Not usually.” The Doctor admitted, closing the TARDIS doors behind me. They locked automatically. “But she will work better when I do.”

I snorted. “It’s like in the South. Can’t fix it with duct tape or WD-40, use a hammer.”

The Doctor and I both grinned at the analogy. He walked up to a nearby door, bringing out his screwdriver. It buzzed a little too loudly.

“Shush!” He scolded it.

“Okay. You  _ just _ did that.” I pointed out to him.

The Doctor gave me a look. “You too!” He buzzed the lock.

He opened the door wide, revealing a bunch of red beret wearing soldiers.

The Doctor and I blinked.

The soldiers blinked.

The two of us blinked again.

The soldiers went for their weapons-Hold on. We all should have blinked three more times. Then it would be funnier!

I just smiled innocently at them. It wouldn’t be long before Toshiko screamed.

“Ah!” Right on cue.

“Defence plan delta!” The Doctor ordered immediately, working his way through the the soldiers. I simply ran around them. “Come on. Move! Move!”

We ran to the medical room, searching for either the  _ ‘alien’ _ or Toshiko. I scanned it, hoping to find some sort of trail. If it ran out of the freezer, it would have scurried out when Tosh opened the door.

The Doctor knelt down by a medical tray, and I saw Tosh huddled in a corner.  _ ‘And to think, this could have been Owen...also, where are my memories of Tosh from Torchwood? This needs investigating.’ _

“It’s alive!” She warned us. 

The Doctor turned to the soldiers, I walked up to Tosh. “Spread out. Tell the perimeter it’s a lockdown.” 

Tosh reached out for me, grabbing my arms. “My god. It’s still alive.”

“It’s fine.” I assured her. “They’ll find him.”

The Doctor stood behind me, barking at the soldiers. “Do it!”

The soldiers all ran out. Tosh gripped my arms, bringing my attention back to her. “I swear it was dead.” She tried explaining.

“I’m sure you did.” I assured. 

“Coma, shock, hibernation, anything.” The Doctor brushed off. “What does it look like?”

Metal clattered behind us. I snapped my head towards it, seeing the file cabinet shimmy. “It’s still here.” The Doctor said.

He got up to get the soldier, I pulled him down. “Unknown alien. You really wanna bring a  _ gun _ ?” I questioned.

“Could be hostile.” The Doctor said. “I’m not taking chances.”

“It’s hiding behind a  _ file cabinet.” _ I argued. “Sound  _ deadly _ to you?”

The Doctor paused. Story, I hoped he realized I had a point. Before waiting on his input, I let go of Tosh’s hands. She immediately curled in on herself, fearful liking the direction of the pig.

I calmly made me way to it, hearing the Doctor fervently whisper for me to get back. More metal clattered, so I got on my hands and knees to crawl towards him.

The Doctor was soon in a similar position, though he was just behind me. I crawled around the medical table, feeling Doc crawl up beside me.

The pig poked his head out the other side. It was taller than a normal pig at this angle, dressed up in a human spacesuit.

“Hey there little guy.” I greeted, smiling warmly.

“Hello.” The Doctor said, sounding excited.

The pig had been startled. He got up on his hind legs, begging to run off. I hopped up on my legs, running to the door. The soldier was there, weapon poised to fire.

“Hold your fire!” I ordered, running around him.

The Doctor came up behind me. “Don’t shoot!”

I was able to stop it at the doors. My hands were held out in front of me in a show of peace. The pig was squealing. “Hey. Easy, buddy.”

The pig squealed, almost sounding like a horrified scream. Now, what did you do when a toddler was screaming over a nightmare?

“You’re really scared, aren’t you?” I said, kneeling down on my knees. The pig snorted. “Hey, hey. It’s alright. I’m not gonna hurt ya.”

He only squealed again. I took a breath. “ _ Alouette, gentille alouett _ e.” I sang, in a calm voice. If it worked on toddlers, surely it would work on a pig. “ _ Alouette, je te plumerai. _ ”

His squeal quited, though it was still no it’s hind legs. Carefully, I made my way towards him. I saw the Doctor standing at the door, and I gave him a look to back off. This was a delicate art, and if he interrupted now I would lose all progress!

“ _ Alouette, gentille alouette. _ ” I sang, looking a back to the pig. “ _ Alouette, je te plumerai.” _

The pig’s squeal were quieter now. I was practically crawling like a chimp towards it, keeping my stance non aggressive. I held my arms out to him, smiling warmly. “ _ Alouette, gentille alouette. Alouette, je te plumerai.” _

The pig stumbled into my arms, making my smile genuine. I pet the pig, smiling as he rubbed his head against my hand. I glanced up at the Doctor, giving a small nod that it was okay. 

“Hey little guy.” I said, brushing on his ears. It snorted. My eyes kinda widened as I checked it’s… ahem…  _ orientation _ . “Oh. Hey little  _ gal _ .”

She purred again, rubbing against my hand. I lifted her partial mutilated body into my lap. The Doctor came up, putting the pig on edge.

“Hey, he’s okay.” I assured the pig. “Even if he can’t drive worth a dime.”

The Doctor rolled his. “I’m not living that down, am I?”

“Only until something more embarrassing happens to you.” I admitted, rocking the pig. “And Jackie slapping you doesn’t count.”

The other soldiers came running in. They must have heard the squealing. The Doctor looked up at them. “Don’t shoot.”

“She was only scared.” I said, turning my head back a bit. The pig snorted, gaining my attention again. “ _ Alouette, gentille alouette. Alouette je te plumerai.” _

The Doctor looked at me curiously at me. “How did you know that?”

“Babysat.” I shrugged. “A scream is a scream, not matter the shape.”

The Doctor apparently agreed with this statement.

 

==CON==

 

I rubbed on the pig’s head, gently cooing. She had been uncomfortable being guided back into Tosh’s medical room. I had to hold her hoof the whole walk up.

The Doctor helped me get her onto the table. I kept whispering that lullabye to her, waiting for her to be calm before I dared loosen my grip. The soldiers were eyeing the pig warily, expecting her to get up and run at any second.

Toshiko came up to my side, holding a clipboard tightly to her chest. She was staring at the pig, shocked. “I just assumed that’s what aliens look like, but you’re saying it’s-”

“ _ She _ .” I corrected. “She’s a girl.” 

Toshiko nodded, slightly embarrassed at being scolded by a teenager. “Uhh.  _ She’s _ an ordinary pig from Earth.”

“More like a mermaid.” The Doctor explained. I kept singing to the pig, my voice a low whisper so as not to overshadow Doc’s. He talked with disgust, directed at the Slitheen family. “Victorian showmen used to draw the crowds by taking the skull of a cat, gluing it to a fish and calling it a mermaid.”

He looked down at the pig and I, watching as I gently scratched behind one of her ear’s. She snorted happily, cuddling closer to me.  _ ‘Two apparently likes animals. Good to know.’ _

“Now someone’s taken a pig, opened up it’s brain, stuck bits on, then they’ve strapped it in that ship and made it dive bomb.” The Doctor went on. The speech had made the pig curl closer to me, so I hummed more of the lullaby to calm her down. “It must’ve been terrified.”

I glared up, yet I’m sure my eyes had a faded look to them. I was glaring at the Slitheen, way off in Downing Street. “They took her and turned her into a joke.” I said in a calm voice, with a bit of bite at the end.

Tosh lowered her clipboard, looking over it. “So she’s a fake, a pretend, like the mermaid.” She walked away, her back to us. The Doctor started making his way out, so I picked up the unnamed pig so I could follow him. “But the technology augmenting its brain, it’s like nothing on Earth. It’s alien. Aliens are faking aliens.”

The rest of her words were lost of us, as the Doctor and I were making our way back to the TARDIS. The Doctor saw the pig, shaking his head.

“Terra, we’re not taking the pig.” The Time Lord said.

“I am keeping, the pig.” I decided, hugging her tightly. “I’m attached.”

The Doctor guided me back into the little store room, but blocked access to the TARDIS. “No pigs. I’m sorry, Terra, but she needs to stay here.”

I pouted. “But I named her!” The Doctor quirked a brow, disbelieving. I held her up, so she was looking at his face. “Meet Penelope the pig.” She oinked, liking the name apparently. “She likes warm London days, daisies, and time travel.”

The Time Lord and I stared at each other, another battle of wills. I was keeping Penelope, and nothing Doc said was gonna stop me. Penelope snorted, and the Doctor’s face softened. I wondered if he could understand her, cause the TARDIS wasn’t translating which must mean animal understanding is a thing he just knows how to do. I could only assume she was asking Doc if she could stay.

He started shaking his head, and I smiled. “Alright.” He gave me a look before I got too excited. “But don’t let her mess anything up.”

“Says the guy who hits the TARDIS with a hammer.” I argued, worming our way to the blue box. “Come no, Penelope, let me introduce you to a good friend of mine. Her name’s TARDIS.” I got my key out, using it to unlock the door. For a second, I had a giddy smile at having unlocked her.

The door opened, and I lowered Penelope to her feet.  _ ‘But she likes it when I call her Idris.’ _

The blue box hummed in my mind.

 

==CON==

 

The Doctor had guided me to the medbay, under myh demand that he see if Penelope was in any pain or could have this undone. My real reason was that I needed a moment of peace to sort my mind out. I stood outside the door to the medbay, face contorted in concentration.

_ ‘Just show me something. _ ’ I instructed.  _ ‘Anything about First Terra. She had a family, a life. There has to be something about it in this mind!’ _

Again, nothing but my own memories in my head. I huffed, but focused.  _ ‘Gwyneth. Toshiko. Torchwood Three. That’s just stuff I heard today! One of those things had to spark a memory!’ _

Just more of nothing. I sighed, wondering what that could mean. My first month here, i could understand the memories not showing up. The photos of her family I had mostly tried disconnecting from, like I would do when working murder cases. But, when I met the face of Boe or Gwyneth? _ Tosh Sato herself _ yet still nothing?

Either First Terra suppressed her memories, or I have amnesia. That’s worse than meeting someone out of order. At least with that, you can remember the first on the second visit. I sighed, sorting through all of the things that wiped memories in  _ Doctor Who _ .

_ ‘Cracks in time. No, too much left behind of Luna-Johnsons to be wiped out. The Silence. No marks or tallies on the journal or my body. Chameleon Circuits? Already a Time Lady, memories would have come back. The mind meld the Doctor did on Donna?’ _

Okay. That theory had a bit of traction. It also added to the one of First Terra suppressing her own memories. Kinda like how on TV people could have their mind willingly erased, but left behind a tape explaining why it’s better forgotten. That could be what the journal was, except there was nothing about Torchwood in there except it was where Chloe worked.

Well, the journal was only to help me with what I needed. Maybe I only needed to know about the Luna-Johnsons, to keep me from talking about Torchwood too early in the Doctor’s timeline.

So that’s what I need to start thinking on, Time Lord memory removal. How exactly do I do that when I’m not even supposed to know about it?

I let my shoulders go lax, resting my head against he metal wall of the TARDIS.  _ ‘Idris? You got any ideas?’ _

The blue box only hummed, it what I could asume was a  _ ‘have fun with that’ _ .

I huffed, lowering my head. The door to the medbay slid open, revealing the Doctor. I got up to my feet, worried about Penelope. “Is she gonna be alright?”

The Doctor’s lips were a thin line, and his blue eyes sympathetic. A feeling of dread starting growing around my two hearts.

Penelope loudly snorted, running past him into my legs. I fell to the ground, happily letting her snort and lick. She was out of the spacesuit, and looked more like a regular pig.

“Hello you beauty!” I cheered, gently scratching behind her ears. She snorted. I wished I could understand what she was saying. “How did you do it?”

The Doctor was grinning, that smug grin. “It was all mostly in the suit.” He crossed his arms over his chest. Penelope licked my cheek, making me laugh. The Time Lord shrugged. “Nothing to a Time Lord.”

I kept laughing, letting Penelope show her affection. Maybe I didn’t need my memories of the past... not while I had to worry about the future. Best leave my past behind me, where it should stay.

 

==CON==

 

The Doctor landed us back at the Powell Estates. We would have been here sooner, but I had the TARDIS guide me to the kitchens to get Penelope something to eat. I have everything in my bag, except pig feed apparently.

I was sitting in the pilot seat, Penelope beside me eating the food out of my hand. She would occasionally let out happy snorts, and oinks.

The Doctor glanced at us. “What’re you going to do with her?”

I shrugged, scratching her behind the ears. She seemed to like it. “Well, I’m not gonna risk her getting hurt. I’ll call my friend. She can come pick up Penelope.” This made me laugh. “Wait no, bad idea. Don’t let her near a pet.” My pig snorted for more food. I reached for a small bag of pig feed I took from the kitchen. “I can come up with something.” I turned to the Doctor. “Anyway, did you notice it?”

“Notice what?” The Doctor asked, more for clarification.

“The crash. It was perfect.” I reminded.

My fellow Time Lord nodded. “I’m waiting for Rose to get back before explaining it.”

The doors swung open. Rose marched up to the console, a worried look on her face.

The Doctor went to the monitor, showing the crash. “Alright, so I lied. We went and had a look.” He excused as Rose came up to his side. I rubbed on Penelope’s neck, continuing to let her eat. Rose glanced over at me, hearing Penelope’s snorts, making her do a double take.

I smiled innocently, half hugging Penelope.

“But the whole crash landing’s a fake.” The Doctor nodded over at me. Rose blinked, turning between the pig and the door. “We thought so. Just too perfect. I mean,  _ hitting Big Ben _ ?” The Doctor scoffed. “Come on, so I thought let’s go and have a look-”

“My mum’s here.” She interrupted him, turning to look at me. “And why’s Terra holding a pig?”

“Her name is Penelope!” I defended. Penelope snorted, loudly. “She was the body they found.” The young blonde girl gaped.

Of course, Mickey and Jackie had walked in. They were on the walkway, gaping at the TARDIS interior.

“Oh, that’s just what I need.” He pointed a warning finger at Rose. “Don’t you dare make this place domestic.”

“Seriously. It gives Penelope indigestion.” I joked, rubbing carefully on the pig’s back. She snorted, as if agreeing.

Mickey chose to ignore the warning. “You ruined my life, Doctor, Terra.” The Time Lord rolled his eyes, giving Mickey a bored look. I merely huffed in annoyance, looking back to Penelope. “They thought she was dead. I was a murder suspect because of you two.”

I glared at him. I already felt bad enough for the murders I had  _ inadvertently _ caused, and now he was blaming  _ me _ for something  _ the Doctor _ did? I liked Mickey on the show, he was a nice enough guy. Ya know, after  this episode. Before, I thought he would end up being the boyfriend that ended up dead because he went to the basement alone.

Funny enough, that was what everyone thought almost happened to Rose.

But, no. Mickey just was just pushing his problems onto us. That’s childish, and just waste of time. So, it was domestic.

“You see what I mean?” The Doctor said to Rose. “Domestic.”

“I bet you don’t even remember my name.” Mickey challenged.

“Ricky.” The Doctor said, easily. He stood up straighter, walking up to Mickey confrontationally.

“It’s  _ Mickey _ .”

“No, it’s  _ Ricky _ .”

“I think I know my own name.”

I winced, rolling my eyes. “ _ Oh _ , he said it.”

“You  _ think _ you know your own name? How stupid are you?” The Doctor asked.

This was the point where it had become too much for Jackie. She ran out the door, Rose following after her. “Mum, don’t!” She turned to the boys. “Don’t go anywhere.” She turned to me. “Don’t let them start a fight!”

“I make no promises!” I called out after her.

She ran back in almost immediately, going up the Doctor. “That was a real spaceship, with a pig inside it.”

The Doctor nodded, typing on the monitor. “Yep.”

“I named her Penelope.” I reminded her, hugging my pig.

Rose nodded, easily accepting the information. “So it’s all a pack of lies? What is it, then? Are they invading?”

“Funny way to invade, putting the world on red alert.” Mickey commented.

The Doctor and I blinked at him. “Good point! So, what’re they up to?” He asked, rhetorically.

I got up from the pilot seat, giving Penelope another handful of pig feed. Rose walked up to me, while Doctor went beneath the console. “So...a pig.” She said, looking at the pilot seat.

“Yep.” I leaned against the railings, grinning. “Whatever aliens we’re dealing with, they rigged Penelope up to be a decoy.” I explained to Rose. “She was scared, so I got her out of the hospital, and the Doctor fixed her up into a normal pig.”

“How’d he do that?” Rose asked, though she wasn’t as excited as before.

I ignored the question, eyeing Rose. The Doctor and Mickey were arguing over his name again, and it clicked. “They accused him of your murder?”

The young girl winced, brushing some of her blonde hair back. “Yeah. He said they brought him in five times.” I whistled. “I just feel so bad about it.”

I winced, my hands holding my phone in my hoodie pocket. Kids and animals were just so much easier than grown-ups. “Well.” I said, awkwardly. My hand let go of the phone, reaching up to scratch behind my neck. Times like these made me miss my long hair, instead of this thing barely reaching my shoulders. “Least now your not dead.”

This didn’t seem to make Rose any brighter. She walked to the console, picking at on of the knobs. 

The Doctor’s voice grabbed out attention. “Ricky. If I was to tell you what I was doing to the controls of my frankly  _ magnificent _ time ship, would you even begin to understand?”

Mickey shrugged. “I suppose not-” He said.

“Well, shut it, then.” The Doctor scolded.

I shook my head, glancing over at Penelope. Rose kept her eyes down. Mickey walked up to us, giving us both a look. “Some friend you’ve got.”

Our companion looked up at Mickey, shaking her head. “He’s winding you up.” She assured. Mickey looked away, making me glare at him. “I  _ am _ sorry.”

“Okay.” Mickey shrugged it off.

“I  _ am _ , though.” Rose insisted.

“Hey.  _ Ricky _ .” I called out to him, angry. The two humans turned to me, concerned at my tone. “The lady said sorry. It wasn’t her fault. Don’t you dare make her feel bad about that.”

Mickey tried defending himself. “I’m not  _ trying  _ to.”

I glared harder. He shut his mouth, eyes wide. “Don’t matter to me. She said sorry. Be a grown up, and accept the apology. Got that?”

He gaped. Rose was shaking her head, taking a step back so she wasn’t between Mickey and I. “A grown up? I’m older than you!”

“Yeah, and I know more about manners than you do. What does that say?” I challenged, putting my hands on my hips.

“It’s just...every day, I looked.” Mickey went on explaining, nervously glancing at Rose periodically. I kept glaring, not caring about his excuses. He blamed the Doctor and I for this, blamed us for a murder that hadn’t occurred. I don’t appreciate being falsely accused of murder. “On every street corner, wherever I went, looking for aI blue box for _ a whole year _ .”

“Well this wasn’t planned.” I said, walking closer to up. “It’s been a few days for us. Time travel is a complicated thing to some people.” Soon, I was almost at confrontation level with him. I thought I was almost amusing, because Mickey and I were close to the same height right now. “We didn’t just decide to skip over the year, it was an accident.”

Rose nodded, coming up behind me. She reached out a hand to put on Mickey’s arm, but pulled it back with a remorseful look on her face. “I swear it’s just a few days since I left you.” She emphasized.

“Not enough time to miss me, then?” Mickey asked, disheartened.

Our companion started smiling. “I did miss you.” She said in the  _ ‘my boyfriend is an idiot for not figuring this out’  _ voice.

Mickey paused, glancing at me. I backed away, though kept my eyes on them warily. “I missed you.” Mickey eventually said.

I glanced up at the TARDIS.  _ ‘Idris, please tell me that Mr. Leather over there almost has the radar fixed.’ _

The TARDIS hummed. I guessed that was a yes.

I sat down on the pilot seat, wrapping an arm over Penelope.  _ ‘Any chance you could tell me what she’s saying while I wait?’ _

There wasn’t any hum. I sighed, pulling up more pig feed. Penelope happily feasted. It warmed my heart to see her happy, much better than before when she had been afraid.

_ “Thank you, Purple Lady!” _ A high pitched, squeal echoed in my mind.

I blinked, glancing up at the TARDIS.  _ ‘Thank you.’ _

She hummed. I turned to Penelope. She was talking between mouth fulls. How much food did pigs  _ eat _ ?  _ “Thank you for the food! It’s way better than the food I used to have back at the farm!” _

_ ‘You lived on a farm?’ _ I thought.

She snorted.  _ “Yeah-huh. I’ve been there since I was a piglet. Then the big humans came, and took me away.”  _ She stopped chewing, laying her head dejectedly on my lap. I scratched behind her ears, gently. _ “It hurt really bad.” _

I brushed down on her back, gently cooing.  _ ‘Don’t worry, Penelope. You won’t have to see them ever again.’ _ She oinked.  _ ‘I have this friend, see. She’ll come pick you up, and take you someplace safe. My future self will be there.’ _

_ “What are you talking about, Purple Lady?” _ Penelope asked.

_ “Time travel is complicated, Penelope. Oh, and you can call me Terra.” _

“Got it! Ha, ha!” The Doctor informed us, climbing out of his little hole.

“You fixed it?” I said, grinning.

“Yep!” The Doctor walked up to the monitor.

I hopped off the pilot seat, standing beside him. It had a schematic of the flight path for the ship Penelope was on. I was gonna make those Slitheen pay for what they did to hear. She had been living on a farm, happy. They ruined her life, but at the same time they could have done it to any other random pig. I hated when people were hurt randomly.

“Patched in the radar, looped it back twelve hours so we can follow the flight of that spaceship.” The Time Lord explained as Rose joined us. “Here we go. Hold on. Come on.”

He whacked the monitor, making me snicker. “I’m guessing she likes that too.” I joked

The Doctor ignored me, instead watching the flight path. Once it finished it’s slingshot, he pointed it out to Rose and I. “That’s the spaceship on its way to Earth, see? Except. Hold on. See? The spaceship did a sling shot round the Earth before it landed.”

“What does that mean?” Rose asked the Doctor and I.

“It means it came from Earth in the first place.” I realized. The Doctor glanced at me, watching me piece it together. “See? It went up and came back down.”

“Whoever those aliens are, they haven’t just arrived, they’ve been here for a while.” The Doctor added. “The question is, what have they been doing?”

The three of us looked down at the monitor, wondering. I suddenly remembered Harriet Jones was trapped in a closet with three Slitheen outside.

 

==CON==

 

So, to answer his question, he Doctor resorted to the human method of channel surfing. Penelope was allowed to waddle around the console, although I don’t think Doc entirely approved. He said as long as she didn’t chew on anything it was fine. He can hit things with a hammer, and Penelope can’t chew on stuff? Seriously?

“How many channels do you get?” Mickey asked, watching as the monitor based another three stations.

He found a news channel, showing clips of Downing Street. “All the basic packages.” The Doctor said, crossing his arms

Mickey looked at him wide eyes. “You get sports channels?”

“Yes, I get the football.” The Doctor rolled his eyes, stopping at seeing more military dressed people walking down a hallway. “Hold on, I know that lot.”

A woman  _ “It is looking likely that the Government’s bringing in alien specialists- those people who have devoted their lives to studying outer space.” _

“UNIT.” The Doctor said, almost surprised. “United Nations Intelligence Taskforce. Good people.”

Rose kept her eyes on the screens, but I glanced at him, eyebrows quirked. “How do you know them?” I asked.

“‘Cos he’s worked for them.” Mickey said.

I looked up at him, curious. The Doctor did too, though more out of annoyance.

“Oh yeah, don’t think I sat on my backside for twelve months, Doctor. I read up on you.” He leaned in closer to Rose, glaring at the Doctor and I. “You look deep enough on the Internet or in the history books, and there’s his name, with her’s right beside it, followed by a list of the dead.” The idiot said, making me pause. I looked down to my shoes out of shame, hands holding onto the TARDIS console.

“That’s nice.” The Doctor said dryly. “Good boy, Ricky.” The Doctor’s eyes moved to me, I could feel them make the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. I forced the pain away, choosing instead to be cold on the subject.

It was true though...ever since I came here people have died for me. I hated that. It wasn’t gonna be long until hundreds of other people died in my name or because of my actions. This wasn’t the time for that, though. I had to focus on stopping World War Three.

Rose glanced at me, turning to the Doctor. “If you know them, why don’t you go and help?”

The Time Lord kept his gaze on me for a beat, then turned off the TV. I looked over to Penelope, wondering how long it would be until I hurt her too.  _ “Terra?” _ Penelope oinked.

I looked back down at my shoes. She would have to stay in here when we went to Downing Street. I wasn’t about to let her get in the claws of the Slitheen again. She might not like it, but I wasn’t going to risk her.

“They wouldn’t recognise me. I’ve changed a lot since the old days.” He walked around me, moving to startup the console. “Besides, the world’s on a knife-edge. There’s _ aliens _ out there and  _ fake _ aliens.” He motioned over at Penelope. The pig tilted her head, the jab completely flying over her head. “We want to keep  _ this  _ alien out of the mix.”

_ ‘And  _ this _ alien needs to stay out of public ear.’ _ I thought dryly.

Penelope oinked again.  _ “I  _ _ knew _ _ you were an alien. Humans don’t have two hearts.” _

I glanced at the Doctor, hoping he didn’t understand pig. 

“I’m going undercover.” The Doctor went on. “And er, I’d better keep the TARDIS out of sight.” He clapped his hands, catching Mickey’s attention. “Ricky, you’ve got a car. You can do some driving.”

I grabbed my bag strap, making my way to the doors with the Doctor.  _ ‘Penelope, I need you to stay in here.’ _

_ “No!” _ Penelope squealed.  _ “Don’t leave me, Terra, please!” _

I winced, almost giving in.  _ ‘I’ll be back before you know it.’ _ I assured.  _ ‘Plus, I’m sure Idris can take perfectly-’ _

The pig dashed across the console, nearly crashing into my legs. I huffed. Couldn’t she see I was trying to help her? She looked at me with those big eyes, and I caved. I let her walk by my side.  _ ‘I can’t promise you’ll be safe with me.’ _

Penelope oinked.  _ “Of course I’m safe with you. You’re not like the big humans. They were mean. You’re nice.” _

_ ‘You heard what Mickey said.’ _ I tried, fruitlessly. _ ‘People around me get hurt.’ _

She tilted her head.  _ “I’m not a people.” _

I smirked, impressed at the argument. Rose hopped along after us, while Doc got the door open. “Where to?” Mickey asked.

“The roads are clearing.” The Doctor explained. “Let’s go and have a look at that spaceship.” He looked down at Penelope. “You sure you want to take her?” The Doctor asked m.

The pig squealed at him. I shrugged, putting a hand on my hip. “She’s stubborn.” The Time Lord shrugged, going with it. With the confidence only a 900 year old alien could have, he walked out the door.

Barely five feet away, the Doctor, Rose, and I were put under a spotlight. This was the exact opposite of what either of us wanted. I raised my hand over my eyes,

“Do not move!” A voice ordered from the helicopter. “Step away from the box and raise your hands above your heads.”

Soon, military and officers filled the alleyway. Penelope squealed at my feet, frightened. I kneeled down, gently brushing on her back. Mickey ran off, a few officers chasing after him. Jackie ran out of her building, shouting for her daughter.

“Raise your hands above your head.” The helicopter voice shouted. “You are under arrest.”

The three of us did so, Penelope choosing instead to curl up by my feet.

“Take me to your leader.” The Doctor beamed.

 

==CON==

 

The UNIT soldiers guided us in a fancy car. The Doctor climbed in first, and I moved to follow after him. A soldier held his arm out. “Miss, we can’t let you take the pig.”

I glared. Penelope squealed. Apparently, the translation only worked inside the TARDIS. “The pig stays with me.”

“Miss-”

“It’s alright.” The Doctor said. “She’s with me. Let her keep the pig.”

I smiled proudly at the UNIT soldier, letting Penelope climb into the car. “Thank ya kindly.” I said, climbing in after her. The pig made herself comfortable on the car rug.

Rose came in last, meaning I was squished between her and the Doctor. “This is a bit posh. If I knew it was going to be like this, being arrested, I would have done it years ago.” The young girl said as the car started up.

“We’re not being arrested.” The Doctor explained. “We’re being escorted.”

I gaped at him, jaw dropping. “You’re kidding.” The Doctor shook his head, laughing. My dropped jaw was slowly changing to a smile. “Downing Street?”

“You’re kidding.” Rose agreed with me, laughing herself.

The Doctor smiled at us. “I’m not.”

“10 Downing Street?” I said. “With the other alien officials?”

The Doctor nodded. “ _ That’s _ the one.”

“Terrific.” I leaned against my seat. Penelope looked at us, confused. “It’s the British White House.” I tried explaining to her.

“Oh, my God.” Wasn’t phased by Charles Dickens, or Doc being an alien, or him being nine hundred years old. Rose couldn’t wrap her head around this. “I’m going to 10 Downing Street? How come?”

“I hate to say it, but Mickey was right.” The Doctor admitted, with much difficulty. “Over the years I’ve visited this planet a lot of times, and I’ve been, er,  _ noticed _ .”

“Now they need  _ you _ ?” I asked. I slumped against my seat. “Oh, we’re doomed.”

The Doctor rolled his eyes, though smiling at the joke. “Like it said on the news. They’re gathering experts in alien knowledge. And who’s the biggest expert of the lot?”

“Patrick Moore?” Rose tried.

The Doctor was appalled. “Apart from him.”

“Me?” I tried, shrugging my shoulders. The Doctor gave me an equally appalled face. “I know everything. Did you miss the meeting?”

Rose laughed at our exchange. “Oh, don’t you just love it.”

“I’m telling you.” He said fondly. “Lloyd George, he used to drink me under the table.” 

_ ‘Albert Einstein once beat me at cards.’ _ I recalled, smiling at the memory.  _ ‘And there was this one guy, Spencer Reid from ‘ _ Criminal Minds’ _ , taught me how to play chess. The little boy from ‘ _ Meet The Robinsons’ _ let me help him with his science fair project.’ _

Another memory made my smile bittersweet.  _ ‘In ‘ _ My Life As A Teenage Robot’  _ I built a humanoid robot, named her SASHA. She turned out to be a Jumper named Me-’ _

I shook the memory away. She died. Sasha Lee is dead. There was no bringing her back. She never existed. I had to have made her up. I put all thoughts about Sasha, this was not the time or place.

“Who’s the Prime Minister now?” The Doctor asked Rose.

“How should I know? I missed a year.” She excused.

I motioned my head to Rose. “What she said.”

 

==CON==

 

The Doctor walked out of the car, smiling and waving at all of the photographers. I went out Rose’s side, guiding Penelope away from the flashing lights. I didn’t want to startle her.

I kept my head down, wishing for longer hair right now. It would have covered my face, hiding me from view. This was a big risk, my face on camera. I walked straight up to the door. Penelope followed after me, oinking and squealing along the way.

“Oh, my God.” Rose said in anticipation.

 

==CON==

 

They guided us in a large, filled with the other experts. My nerves went on alert, uneasy around so many people. With my memories as shot as they were, anyone of the could be Logan or work for Logan, and I wouldn’t know until it was too late.

I moved myself to a corner of the room, sitting down in one of the padded chairs. I could spot the Slitheen, easily chatting with the others.

Penelope curled herself up in my lap, sniffling. She must have noticed I was agitated. I brushed on her back soothingly. “Sorry.”

“Beg pardon?”

I glanced up, seeing Harriet eye me and my pig warily. “I was talking to Penelope.” I nervously hugged said pig closer. “She’s the pig.”

Harriet looked at my pig, nervously shuffling on her feet. “Forgive me for asking, but, why are you apologizing to...um... _ Penelope _ ?”

The question made me even more agitated. “And who are you to ask me that?”

She held up her key card. “Harriet Jones. MP for Flydale North.”

_ Well, she did answer my question.  _ “She knows I’m scared, and it’s making her agitated. Animals can sense danger better than humans can.”

Harriet gave me more of her attention. “And why are  _ you _ scared, my dear?”

The way she asked it told me she had been scared as well. I mean, I knew she had been traumatized by the Slitheen changing, but when she spoke it was obvious. Anyone could see it if they looked her in the eyes long enough, actually gave her attention.

I could only hope she would never have to find out why I was scared. Why I was scared of getting overly attached to the Doctor and Rose, of telling them anything about myself, of my past coming back to haunt me.

The man, Indra Ganesh, walked out. “Ladies and gentlemen, can we convene?” I got up from my seat, guiding Penelope back to Rose and the Doctor. Harriet didn’t even notice. “Quick as we can, please. It’s this way on the right, and can I remind you ID cards are to be worn at all times.”

Rose smiled at me, excited. I put on a smile, it dropping the second she looked away.

“Here’s your ID card.” Indra gave the Doctor a remorseful wince. “I’m sorry, your companions don’t have clearance.”

“I don’t go anywhere without them.” The Doctor said, putting on the ID card.

I almost wanted to rip it off his neck. Indra shook his head. “You’re the code nine, not them.” He said. I saw Harriet walking over to us, either following me or following the plot. “I’m sorry, Doctor. It is the Doctor, isn’t it?” The Time Lord nodded. “They’ll have to stay outside.”

“They’re staying with me.” The Doctor stressed.

“Look, even I don’t have clearance to go in there.” Indra sighed. “I can’t let them in and that’s a fact.”

“It’s alright. You go.” Rose offered the Doctor.

I snorted, Penelope did too. “Yeah, better idea anyway.”  _ ‘Leave me with the jeopardy friendly human and a victimized pig. Nothing to go wrong there.’ _

Harriet came up behind the man, staring directly at the Doctor. “Excuse me. Are you the Doctor?” Ganesh rolled his eyes.

“Sure.” The Doctor focused his attention on her. He probably thought she could get Rose and I in.

Rose turned back to the Doctor. “See you in a minute?” She said.

“I’ll keep my eyes on her.” I assured.

The Doctor reluctantly agreed. “I suppose so. Don’t get in any trouble.”

“No promises.” I said with a flat tone. He walked into the boardroom, leaving us with Harriet and Indra.

“You haven’t got clearance. Now leave it.” Indra finished his argument with a dejected Harriet. He turned to Rose and I, guiding us both away. “I’m going to have to leave you with security.” He said.

Penelope oinked. She didn’t like this idea, and neither did I. “It’s alright. I’ll look after them.” Harriet offered, smiling politely. “Let me be of some use.” Indra released us into her care. I gave him a look, not wanting to be left with a woman that I had slipped personal information to. “Walk with me. Just keep walking. That’s right.”

The three of us walked out the door. Penelope and Rose tried looking back for the Doctor.

“Don’t look round.” The politician warned. Rose turned her head front wards, though Penelope just needed a quick shrug to fix that. She oinked at me, getting attention from the soldiers posted around the room. “Harriet Jones, MP Flydale North.” She said, holding up her card.

“I know who you are.” I said, unable to resist the joke.

The woman ignored my statement, just moving Rose and I along to the stairs. She kept silent, eyes forward. She had seen a horrible thing, like I had. She had seen more of it, to be fair, and hadn’t had to carry it around for a month. I shouldn’t be too harsh on her. Harriet wasn’t even prime minister yet. There was still time to stop her.

She stopped us as soon as the soldiers were out of hearing range.

“This friend of yours, he’s an expert, is that right?” Harriet asked us. “He knows about aliens?” Her shoulders started shaking, her tears already about to explode.

“Why do you want to know?” I asked, my voice low. “Did you see them?”

She burst into tears, Rose going up to her for comfort. I hugged Penelope, feeling awkward in this situation.

 

==CON==

 

Harriet brought us to the cabinet room once she had composed herself. She pulled the flesh suit of Oliver from the closet, laying him out on the table. I put Penelope down, giving her space to run, so I could examine the suit.

The body had been hollowed out perfectly, nearly as flat as the cartoons. The zipper hadn’t been crudely snapped on, closer to fused with the human skin. I wonder if this was the same technology they used to get Penelope into her alien suit. It wouldn’t be too far of a stretch.

“They turned the body into a suit.” Harriet explained, hysterical. “A disguise for the thing inside!”

“It’s alright.” Rose assured. Now I felt the need to eat an apple pie to get the British off me. “I believe you. It’s, it’s alien. They must have some serious technology behind this.” She started looking around the room. “If we could find it, we could use it.”

“They used it on Penelope too.” I commented, lifting up the human head to get a better look at the zipper. “Made her wear a spacesuit to make everyone think she was an alien.”

“Excuse me, what?” Harriet asked.

“She was inside the spaceship.” I said. “Mr. Leather back there said she was like a mermaid, to trick us. By the time we would have figured it out, the real culprits would have gotten away with it. I’ve seen it before.”

Harriet eyed me curiously. “The aliens who did this? They’re behind that spaceship.” I nodded. She looked at Penelope, who was sniffing the cabinet with the dead man inside. “And they used that poor creature?” I nodded again.

Penelope squealing and Rose yelping caught our attention. A body had collapsed to the floor, making Penelope run back to me excitedly. “Oh, my God! Is that the-”

Harriet ran up behind her, while I knelt down to check for a pulse. None, and judging by the decomp I’d say dead since this morning. Shortly after the crash, too.

“Harriet, for God’s sake.” Indra shouted. Penelope squealed again, ramming herself into my side She was using her nose, trying to push me away from the body. Could she smell the Slitheen’s claws on him? “This has gone beyond a joke. You cannot just wander- Oh, my God.”

“Do you know how this is?” I asked him.

He gaped at the body. “That’s the Prime Minister!”

“Oh!”

The four of us turned to it. Margaret was coming in from the shadows, a malicious tone in her voice. “Has someone been naughty?” She closed the door behind her, blocking our only exit.

Penelope squealed in terror. She pressed her nose against my side again, so I lifted myself off the ground to glare at Margaret.

“That’s impossible. He left this afternoon.” Indra said, confused. “The Prime Minister left Downing Street. He was driven away!”

Margaret walked up to him, a predatory gaze in her cold eyes. “And who told you that, hmm?”

“Oh do not say it.” I mumbled, moving to stand in front of Rose and Harriet.

She grinned deviously at me. “ _ Me _ .”

“Oh she said it.” I grunted. “Hey, buddy, what’s your name?”

The man turned to me. “Uh, Indra Ganesh.”

“Indra Ganesh, get over here!” I advised, as Margaret starting unzipping. Indra was frozen in fear. The room filled with a blue light. Penelope squealed again, running around to the other side of the desk. She ended up hiding under the table.

Margaret pulled off her skin suit, revealing the Slitheen underneath. The humans flinched back, and I took a step forward. She flexed her body in relief, blinking her eyes sideways. She reached for Indra.

“No!” I barked at her.

It was too late. She grabbed him, slamming him against the wall. The Slitheen laughed, causing the humans to scream. Penelope was still squealing in fear. Why hadn’t she stayed where it was safe?

“Put him down!” I snarled at Margaret.

The Slitheen ignored me. Oh,  _ now _ she was in for it.

 

==CON==

 

Meanwhile, across town, Jackie Tyler walked out of her kitchen to see a Slitheen in the doorway.

She screamed, loud enough to catch the attention of a certain neighbor who will swear that it wasn’t intentional.

He was stopped at the door by the officers waiting there. Garfield Logan sighed, shaking his head.

“They always make it difficult for me.” He commented. His black eyes glowed, covering the whites so he looked almost demonic.

The officers reached for their weapons.  “Yes. Please. Bring more of you interfering humans up here.” Logan taunted.

Logan jerked his hand to the side, causing both of the innocent officers necks to snap. They collapsed to the ground in heaps, making Logan smirk.

“Changed my mind.” He said. “I like a challenge.” 

He looked into the Tyler residence, the door clicking unlocked. The Slitheen was inside, still walking towards Jackie.

_ “And he’s watching us all with the eye.” _ Logan hummed, calmly walking into the apartment. _ “Of the tiger.” _


	7. World War Three

The matriarch of the Tyler family was cowering in her kitchen. Storming in after her was the Slitheen, Sip Fel Fotch Pasameer-Day-Slitheen.

Jackie hadn’t been expecting this when her daughter came home. She remembered the morning after the plastic came to life, how Rose hadn’t come home. People had tried breaking it to her gently, that maybe Rose had been killed in the attack. Jackie refused to believe that, her daughter was a fighter.

That was when the posters went out. Jackie placed them all over the Powell Estates, hoping someone would have seen her daughter. Jackie never gave up hope for Rose coming home, not daring to move anything in her room so it would be exactly as Rose left it.

Then a year after, to the day, Rose came in. She was smiling, laughing, talking as if she had only spent a night out. Behind her by a few minutes was that Doctor, the one Jackie remembered coming into their apartment and leaving a broken table.

Jackie was surprised that Rose and the Doctor were friends instead of captor and victim. She had to let the Doctor stay around, lest Rose leave again. Oh, but once the aliens crashed, and Jackie saw the Doctor’s ship, she knew she had a chance.

She didn’t want them taking her daughter too, or that other girl and pig with them. Jackie wondered if the new girl was another victim. She had seen the girl in her flat, watching the telly with the Doctor. Jackie pitied her, she looked much younger than Rose did. Just what kind of alien as this Doctor?

Of course, none of these questions were coming to her now, not with a giant green alien in front of her trying to kill her. She wondered what had happened to Officer Strickland, if this alien killed him and she would be dead too. Jackie would never find out where they took Rose, if her daughter was alright.

Out of nowhere, Sip Fel Fotch lit up like Christmas tree. Jackie flinched back from it, gaping. Sip had stopped attacking her, instead making a shrill scream as he was electrocuted.

“Jackie!” Came a voice in her hallway.

Jackie felt momentarily relieved, then panicked. “Garfield no, stay out!”

The man didn’t listen to her, instead choosing to come to the doorway of the kitchen. He eyed the Slitheen, wary yet intrigued. Jackie had met the man some months ago, him saying he noticed the papers of Rose and wanted to help.

It was such a sad story. Logan had lost someone close to him as well, a close friend, a month before Rose went missing. Jackie had listened to him, wondering if their stories were connected. As a plus, he wasn’t hard on the eyes. Jackie couldn’t remember the girl’s name, Logan had only said it a handful of times, but she knew the girl must’ve meant a lot to Logan.

She wondered if he would ever find that girl, like she found Rose.

 

==CON==

 

As Blon shook with electricity, she dropped the dead Indra to the ground. Rose grabbed my hand, as well as Harriet’s. She dragged us around the Slitheen, eyeing her with disgust.

Penelope squealed.

“Penelope, come on!” I called out to her.

The pig oinked, running out from under the table. She dashed up to the door just in time for Rose to open it. The four of us ran out into the hall, leaving the screaming Blon behind us. We needed to find a place to hide.

 

==CON==

 

“Jackie!” Mickey called out, panicked.

And, great. Now  _ Mickey  _ was here too.

Logan grabbed a nearby chair from the living room, smashing it over the Slitheen. Jackie didn’t see the look of sick glee on his face as the alien crumbled to the ground, she only felt him grab her hand to pull her to her feet.

“Come on, Jackie.” Logan said. Jackie liked the deep tone of his voice. She thought it was a bit like that actor, Tom Hiddleston, except Logan had dark blonde hair. “Before he gets back up.” Logan said, though not to eager. He was partially hoping the beast would stand up again, if only to hear his screams as Logan finished him.

Alas, we cannot all have what we want. Logan would have to wait a bit for that. Killing the officers outside had only made him eager for more. He wouldn’t say he had a problem with murder, Logan knew that once Terra heard about their deaths it would tear her apart inside. She couldn’t have stopped it, she didn’t know about it, but it still happened under her watch.

Logan knew all the ways to get under Terra’s skin. That was why he had posed(ish) as an expert on the young Time Lady. He had been in the same room as Rose Tyler. He could have killed the girl, and Terra would have been the only one to know about her importance to time and space. He had befriended Jackie Tyler, and that would make Terra positively  _ enraged _ .

He had been following her for years now, decades. Some old allies had given him the technology to stop his body clock. It was the only  _ proper  _ way to keep up with a time traveler after all. It had been just under eight years since he had last interacted with Terra face-to-face, only three since he interacted with her at all.

Oh, if only you could have seen his face when he saw it her second self here. The one who froze in fear at his voice, who never dared say his name. She was only a month or so old, clinging the deaths of her host family and first faces so tightly. Logan knew the importance of a Time Lord’s first face after a regeneration.

The best way to hurt Terra wasn’t to go after her, the girl was a martyr for hire. It was best to go after friends and family. That was why Logan went for Jackie and Rose, Terra’s new friends. It was an added bonus that endangering Rose would jab the Doctor, another person important to Terra.

He had Jackie Tyler in the palm of his hands, a Slitheen unconscious at his feet, and soon Terra in fear.  _ ‘Is it my birthday? Or Christmas? You can never tell with time travel these days.’ _

Mickey pulled out his phone, taking a quick photo of the Slitheen. Logan guided Jackie out of the apartment, finding sick glee when she saw the bodies.

“He got to them first.” Logan said, which only made Jackie let out a short sob. He wrapped an arm over her shoulder, knowing she would turn to him for comfort. He grinned, deviously. “Come on. It’s not safe here.”

Mickey came out of the apartment soon after, proof of the alien in his hands. Watch the Doctor call him an idiot now, or Terra call him a child. This would show ‘um.

 

==CON==

 

We had gotten just a hallway away from the stairs when Harriet stopped us. “No, wait. They’re still in there. The emergency protocols. We need them.”

I rolled my eyes, motioning to Penelope that we had to go back. “It’s always  _ something! _ ” I grumbled, running to the room. The slowing screams of Blon still floated out into the hallway. We didn’t have much time.

I turned the corner first, seeing we didn’t have any time. “Retreat!” I shouted.

Blon swiped her claws at me, barely missing them. Harriet and Rose were screaming, Penelope squealing loudly. 

After a chase fitting for Scooby Doo, we ended up by the room Vivian Rook dies in. The other door was locked, which I was a bit grateful for. The elevator dinged.

“Hello!” The Doctor said, making Blon roar.

The sonic buzzed again, so I dragged Rose down through an open door.

We ended up in the room, with a lot of room to hide. Penelope came running to my side, so I picked her up to find a decent hiding spot.

“Hide!” Rose suggested, finding the doors locked.

Penelope and I went to hiding under one of the couches. She only quieted after a few hummed verses, and even then she still let out some small snorts and oinks. I wished the TARDIS had made that telepathic thing last outside her walls, but there was nothing I could do about it now. It was barely a minute after that Blon walked in, purring in her Slitheen voice.

“Oh, such fun. Little human children, where are you?” Blon said. I winced, suddenly reminded of an old jump. The  _ 30 Days Of Night _ , where my dark side had taken too much pleasure in hunting down the human race.

It hadn’t been a good time, for anyone. My dark side had made games about it after awhile, cruel sadistic games. She once made a mother chose which child would live and which would die, and then she ended up killing them both. She did the same with loved ones, and other siblings, and friends. My dark side had thought humans only existed to make life fun for her, prey to be hunted.

When I woke up fifty years in the future, I had been horrified to find out what she had done. The number of how many she killed, added to the number I’ve killed, is still in my mind. I have since added the Luna-Johnson’s, Eleven, Oswin, Fourth Terra, Moxx of Balhoon, Gwyneth, Cassandra, Indra, and the humans the Slitheen wore as skin. Sure, there was nothing that could’ve been done, but I always feel sadden by the losses I didn’t stop.

This wasn’t my first time being a victim in this hunting. Many decades of being a cop meant having to do this sort of thing when a criminal is chasing you. My first ever adventure had me running for my life from a giant spider.

I hugged Penelope, not tight enough to hurt her. It was my first instinct, even though hugs weren’t exactly a thing I’d ever enjoyed. She accepted the hug, scared herself.

“Sweet little humeykins, come to me. Let me kiss you better.” Blon said, her voice making small suckle noises making me gag. “Kiss you with my big, green lips.”

Penelope looked up at me with her big eyes, questioningly. I could only shrug, unable to give her a proper answer.

 

==CON==

 

There was some loud pitter pats as the other two Slitheen. Penelope was starting to fuss, so I held her tighter. Asquith had said Oliver had a farmer, maybe that was the farm Penelope had come from. She must recognize his scent, and didn’t like it.

“My brothers.” Blon cheered.

“Happy hunting?” Jocrassa asked.

“It’s  wonderful. ” Blon sighed happily. “The more you prolong it, the more they  _ stink _ .”

“Sweat and fear.” The Asquith Slitheen said with a laugh. I didn’t know his Slitheen name, only the ones of his brother and sister.

“I can smell an old girl.” Jocrassa said. “Stale bird and brittle bones. And a creature, small and succulent.” I held Penelope protectively, glaring in Jocrassa’s general direction. “So terrified.” His feet came closer to the couch, making me flinch away.

“And two ripe youngsters.” Blon said. “One, oh her heart is beating so fast.”  _ ‘No, I just have two. Bound to sound like one going too fast.’ _ I thought. “And the other, all hormones and adrenalin. Fresh enough to bend before she  _ snaps! _ ”

Rose screamed. I didn’t hesitate to roll out from under the couch, hopping up to full attention. “Let her go!” I ordered.

Blon and her brothers looked more than ready to take this offer. Harriet jumped out from behind her divider. “ _ No _ !” She shouted, spreading her arms out wide. “Take  _ me _ first!  _ Take me!” _

The three Slitheen looked between the three humans, probably wondering who could get which.

None of them got the chance to act out. The Doctor ran in, brandishing a fire extinguisher. “Out, with me!” The Doctor said while spraying Jocrassa and Asquith.

Rose pulled down her curtain with a shout, covering Blon with it. I kneeled down, picking up Penelope. The pig fought against it, not wanting to be seen by the aliens. I ran to the door, holding it open while Harriet and Rose stood behind the Doctor.

“Who the hell are you?” The Doctor asked Harriet.

“Harriet Jones, MP for Flydale North.” She didn’t hold up the card, instead staring in terror at the Slitheen.

“Nice to meet you.”

“Likewise.”

The Doctor sprayed them again.

“Get out!” I shouted at them. The humans and pig got into action, running out of the room. The Doctor made sure the Slitheen were far enough away before coming to the door.

“We need to head to the Cabinet Room.” The Doctor said, taking lead.

“The Emergency Protocols are in there.” Harriet said as an added bonus. “They give instructions for aliens.”

The Doctor smiled. “Harriet Jones, I like you.”

Harriet smiled back. “And I like you too.”

The Slitheen screamed behind us. I picked up Penelope carrying her through the halls. These Slitheen were faster out of their human skins.

 

==CON==

 

The five of us barely managed to get to the Cabinet Room before the Slitheen. Harriet went for the emergency protocols. Rose made sure there weren’t any other Slitheen inside the closet. I put Penelope down in the back, the terrified pig curling in on herself. Oh, when the Slitheen were locked out I would hold her until the nuclear bomb.

The Doctor grabbed a bottle of whiskey from a nearby shelf. I ran to his left, Rose just beside me. I glared at the Slitheen, for what they did to Penelope and making Rose afraid.

The family made it to the door, and the Doctor held up the bottle. “One more move and my sonic device will triplicate the flammability of this alcohol.  _ Whoof _ , we all go up. So  _ back off _ .” He warned.

The Slitheen listened. I almost smirked.  _ ‘The weapon is harmless, but it’s gotta sting.’ _

The Doctor was only mildly surprised it had worked. It was the confidence, I bet, that sold it to them. “Right then. Question time. Who exactly are the Slitheen?”

“They’re aliens.” Harriet explained.

The Doctor turned to her, a forceful smile on his face. “Yes. I got that, thanks.”

“Who are you, if not human?” Jocrassa asked.

Harriet turned to Rose and I. “Who’s not human?”

“My pig, Penelope.” I offered, more for comedic purposes than anything.

The companion sighed. “He’s not human.”

“Oh yeah. Him too.” I nodded my head at the Doctor.

Harriet gaped at us. “He’s not human?” Rose shook her head. I smirked.

“Can I have a bit of hush?” The Doctor barked.

The MP looked embarrassed. “Sorry.”

“So, what’s the point of all this?” I asked them. The Doctor gave me a look. “Well someone had to ask.”

“But he’s got a Northern accent.” Harriet argued to Rose.

“Lots of planets have a north.” Rose replied.

“I said hush.” He reminded, giving me a look. I brushed it off, putting my hands in my pockets. The Doctor turned to the Slitheen, waiting. “Come on.” He held up the alcohol threateningly. The Slitheen flinched away. “You’ve got a spaceship hidden in the North Sea. It’s transmitting a signal. You’ve murdered your way to the top of government. What for, invasion?”

“Why would we invade this God-forsaken rock?” Asquith scoffed. 

The Time Lord didn’t react, only pressed further. “Then something’s brought the Slitheen race here. What is it?”

I eyed Blon in the back, who had been quiet for what I thought was a bit too long. It was hard to read their emotions, with the baby green faces and pupiless eyes. She had been bent over, as if trying to remain intimidating despite her brothers in front of her.

Asquith almost started laughing. “The Slitheen race?”

“Slitheen is not our  _ species _ . Slitheen is our  _ surname _ .” The Slitheen explained. “Jocrassa Fel Fotch Pasameer-Day-Slitheen at your service.”

“And you two?” I asked, not letting the Doctor say he line just yet.

Blon held up her head. “Blon Fel Fotch Passameer-Day Slitheen.”

“Rhedden Fel Fotch Passameer-Day Slitheen.” The last said. Well, at least I can put a name to the face.

The Doctor grinned, disbelieving. “So, you’re family.”

“A family  _ business _ .” Jocrassa corrected.

“Always about money.” I commented, thoughtfully. The Slitheen turned to glare at me. The sudden attention only slightly phased me. What? They actually weren’t as scary with the all black eyes. Now, if they had some irises then I might be a bit more shaken. “You want something from Earth, a profit. How can you do that on a, what’d you call it? A _ God-forsaken rock?” _

Rhedden paused, pointing a claw at the Doctor. “Ah, excuse me? Your device will do  _ what _ ? Triplicate the flammability?”

The Time Lord laughed. I winced. It had been a decent idea. “Is that what I said?”

“You’re making it up!” Rhedden realized.

“Ah, well! Nice try.” He was smiling too wide, passing the drink to his right. “Harriet, have a drink. I think you’re gonna need it.”

The MP eyed the drink. “You pass it to the left first.” She reminded him.

“Sorry.” The Doctor whispered, handing the bottle to me.

I gladly grabbed the bottle. “Thank ya kindly.”

Rhedden thought that was enough. “Now we can end this hunt with a slaughter.”

“Don’t you think we should  _ run _ ?” Rose asked the Doctor and I. Harriet agreeing with her.

I glanced to the Doctor, with a look asking if he actually  _ did _ have a plan. 

The Doctor smiled at all of us. “ _ Fascinating  _ history, Downing Street. Two thousand years ago, this was marsh land. 1730, it was occupied by a Mister Chicken.” The Time Lord chuckled. “He was a nice man.” He was back to business. “1796, this was the Cabinet Room. If the Cabinet’s in session and in danger, these are about the four most safest walls in the whole of Great Britain. End of lesson.”

The Doctor pressed a button underneath a small panel on his right. The walls around us grinded with metal, making Penelope squeal in concern. She was running in circles as barriers covered the windows and door.

The bottle of alcohol still in my hand, I briefly wondered where I could find a glass. Alcohol had been a field I hadn’t tested yet with Time Lord biology. It must take a lot to get me drunk, with the second heart making blood pump faster in my body. There are some fun stories about me getting drunk, most of them with the cast of HIMYM, back in my fifties and hundred-sixties. Don’t even get me started on my many years in colleges. Darcy had also made it her mission to see every version of me drunk at least once.

“Installed in 1991. Three inches of steel lining every single wall.” The Doctor explained. The humans looked around at the windows, in slight concern. I put on a smug smirk. “They’ll never get in.”

“Terrific idea.” I complimented, a sarcastic lilt in my voice.

The Doctor grinned. “Thank you.”

“One of the best.” I went on.

“It is.” The Doctor agreed, smugly. Either he was ignorant of my tone, or he ignored it.

“Except for _ one  _ little detail.” I put my thumb and pointer finger together.

He raised a brow, looking smug. He crossed his arms over his chest, daring me to find the problem. “And that is?”

I crossed my arms over my chest, mocking his posture. “How do  _ we _ get _ out _ ?”

The Doctor just kept grinning, but you could see it in his eyes that he hadn’t thought that part through. He looked at us three, then the door, then us, and then the door again.

“Ah.”

 

==CON==

 

Off across town, three people were having the opposite problem. They were still running away from one of the Slitheen family. The Powell Estates were compromised, so they went to Mickey’s flat.

Logan had been so proud of himself. Soon, he’d have the perfect opportunity to take enact his plan. He had been on the run as of late, from a group Terra herself put together. They had been chasing over time and space, keeping him from fulfilling any of his ideas.

Well, they weren’t here today. It was just that Doctor, and Logan wouldn’t even break a sweat working around that Time Lord.

Jackie checked out his liquor cabinet, finding nothing but beer cans and bottles. “Got anything stronger?” She asked him.

Mickey pulled the Tyler woman away sitting her in the nearby chair. “No chance. I’ve seen you when you’ve had a few. This ain’t time for a conga.” Logan watched the scene with barely hidden boredom. How long would it be until the Slitheen attacked? At least then he could have fun. 

“We’ve got to tell someone.” Jackie sighed.

“That’s a no-go, Jackie.” Logan said. The woman turned to him, giving him her attention. He was briefly proud of the fact he had her practically at his beck and call, but snuffed it out. This woman was just that, a boring human. She was nothing to Logan, just means to an end. “You saw what happened at the Estates. If we told anyone, they would phone the police. That’ll send that alien officer right to us.”

Jackie frowned in fear. She had seen those two other officers, the ones Officer Stickland had murdered. She didn’t want to end up like that. She didn’t want to die without knowing Rose was okay.

Logan had other reasons for not wanting to tell anyone. If they did, they would find out about his connection to Terra. It would be impossible to get her back after that. She would be protected by that moronic ninth doctor and his blonde shop girl. 

“We can only trust each other right now.” Logan said, eyeing the other male.

Mickey grabbed some glasses for tea, not noticing the predatory look in the black eyes. “This is what he does, Jacks, that Doctor bloke. Everywhere he goes, death and destruction, and he’s got Rose in the middle of it.”

“The Doctor?” Logan asked, feigning ignorance on the Time Lord.

Mickey turned to him. Ever since he had done his research, he had felt like the go-to guy on the Doctor. “He’s an alien. He’s the reason Rose was missing, cause of his spaceship. It’s really a time machine. He took Rose and this other girl, Terra.”

Logan stood up straighter in his chair. “Hmm. I heard Rose had come back, but to hear she had been abducted by an alien. That’s horrible.” He said, faking sympathy.

The two humans bought it.

“Has he got a great big Green thing inside him, then?” Jackie asked Mickey.

Mickey scoffed. “I wouldn’t put it past him.” He put the tea mugs on the counter, pulling out a jug of milk. “But like it or not, he’s the only person who knows how to fight these things.”

_ ‘Oh, and for a second I thought he was clever. _ ’ Logan shook his head. 

Jackie sniffled. “I thought I was going to die.” She burst into tears.

Logan reached out, holding her shoulder in comfort. “Come on, Jackie. You’re gonna be fine. No one is going to find you here.”

“Besides. If anyone’s going to cry, it’s going to be me.” Mickey said, in all seriousness. That brightened the Tyler woman’s spirits, though only just. “Like Garfield said, you’re safe in my flat, Jacks. No one’s going to look for you here, especially since you hate me so much.”

Jackie suddenly laughed, more to herself. “You saved my life.  _ God _ , that’s embarrassing.”

“You’re telling me.”

Jackie “He wanted me dead. And he’s still out there, Mickey. That policeman. That thing.”

“And who was that other girl you mentioned?” Logan asked Mickey. “Terra?”

The mechanic held back the urge to roll his eyes at the mention of her. “I looked her up, too. She’s been with that Doctor a long time, longer than Rose has. She’s always by his side with stuff like this happens.”

“Is she?” Logan leaned back in his chair, trying not to let his predatory grin show.  _ ‘Such a troublemaker, Terra. What have you become?’ _

“I tried warning Rose about them, really I did.” Mickey explained. “It was too late. The police showed up, taking them all away.”

“And what else do you know about her?” Logan pressed.

“Why do you wanna know?” Mickey countered, confused by the questioning.

By now, Jackie had stopped crying. She only had gentle sniffles, looking up at Logan. “Garfield, do you know her?” She asked.

Logan moved his gaze away, one of his hands balling into a fist. “I guess it’s time I confessed.” He muttered, although loud enough so Jackie and Mickey could hear. “Jackie, remember that friend I told you I lost?” She nodded. “It’s because of Terra that I lost her.”

 

==CON==

 

This was  _ boring _ .

We had been sitting here for upwards of ten minutes, with nothing to do but sit on our asses.

Rose was searching the room for always out. Harriet had taken it upon herself to read the emergency protocols, in case we needed them or something. I was keeping Penelope calm, as the pig had been panicking since first catching whiff of the Slitheen.

“ _ Alouette, gentille alouette. _ ” I hummed to her, brushing on her back.

“What are you singing?” Rose asked me.

“Singing her a French lullaby.” I replied, going back to singing the song.  _ “Alouette, je te plumerai.” _

“Why that one?” Rose asked, searching behind some curtains. “And not, twinkle twinkle? Or, rock a bye?”

“Cause I like this one more.”

“It’s a French folk song.” The Doctor said, dragging the Prime Minister into the closet. “Alouette. In World War 1, Americans soldiers learned the song when stationed in France. They brought the song home, telling their kids and grandkids.”

“What does it mean?” Rose asked the last Time Lord. “Shouldn’t the TARDIS be translating it for me?”

“Not if Terra’s deliberately speaking another language.” The Doctor said. He stuffed the PM away, going to pick up Indra. “At least, I think so. And I think the song is something about plucking the head off a bird.”

“That’s a weird lullaby.” Rose commented, going back to searching.

“You wanted me to sing one about a baby falling from a tree.” I pointed out, almost angrily.

Rose stuck her tongue out at me, causing us both to grin. I went back to humming. I remember the first time I heard this lullaby. The ghost of a mental patient had gone insane before dying, seeing the ghost of a man named Byrd. She sang the song to sooth herself, but in the end it did nothing. She taught the song to any children that could hear her, trying to recreate the lost connection between her and her infant son.

It made me smile, that memory. The ghost moved on into the light, her son had a family of his own, and Dr. Byrd moved on as well. That was a good day.

The Doctor dragged the secretary into the closet, resting him by the old Prime Minister.  “What was his name?”

“Who?” Harriet said, paying more attention to the emergency protocols.

“This one. The secretary or whatever he was called.” The Doctor asked, lying him down.

Harriet realized she had no idea. “I don’t know. I talked to him. He...said it earlier, but, I didn’t hear him. That thing...it...it killed him.”

I lifted Penelope off my lap, putting her down in one of the chairs. “Be right back.” I said, walking to the closet.

“I brought him a cup of coffee. I never asked his name.” Harriet said.

The Doctor turned to me. “Did you?”

I nodded. “Indra Ganesh.”

The Doctor and I leaned over his body.  “Sorry Indra.” He whispered.

My attention went to his wrists, lowering the sleeves to find his watch.

“What are you doing?” Harriet asked, disgusted.

_ ‘Watch on left hand, right handed. Wallet in his front left pocket.’ _ I rummaged through the pocket, trying to find his ID. “Searching for his wallet.”

Harriet gasped. “The man has died!”

“It’s for his  _ ID _ .” I justified, finding the secretary’s leather wallet. His ID was in the front coat pocket. “I’m not a complete monster, you know.” The ID slid out, I guess he pulled it out often. “ _ Indra Ganesh _ . See?” I said, putting the wallet back but keeping the ID.

The Doctor nodded, committing the name to memory probably. Rose looked over at me, curious. I was searching the room for a potted plant. There was one on the mantle, so I walked over to it.

“Now what are you doing?” The Doctor asked.

“Sometimes there’s not enough to bury.” I picked the plant up off the mantle, treating it on the table. “Or I couldn’t get them to a grave.” The ID card was pushed into the dirt, deep enough to cover it completely. “So I’d take their ID or dog tags or something with their name on it, and bury that.” In the dirt I wrote out ‘ _ IG’ _ .

This was one of the rare rituals my dark side had picked up from me. She would have eaten too much of a person, so she would perform this action. It was only the ones where I had managed to get a grip on myself, push some humanity back inside of her.

The habit stuck. Darcy had learned it too, after seeing me perform one on her parents. She knew that it was a good thing to do, a last bit of compassion, or remorse, for the victim. It was a small gesture, but small enough for her.

With the pseudo burial complete, I put the plant back on the mantle. There was a moment of silence in the room, hopefully for Indra’s respect and not confusion over my ritual.

I had nothing of Gwyneth’s, or of the Johnson’s. Nothing that I could bury, anyway. If I ever found that necklace of Thelma’s, maybe I could bury that. For now I just have to assume my future self buried them when she took the pictures.

_ ‘Sorry Mister Ganesh.’ _ I thought.  _ ‘I really am.’ _

“Right, what have we got?” The Doctor asked. “Any terminals, anything?” He used the sonic on the windows, trying to find his own way out.

“Remember your history lesson? This place is too old to have any of that stuff.” I said, taking a seat at the middle of the table.  _ ‘Hold on. Was this the Master’s chair in  _ Sound of Drums _?’ _ My arms stretched out on the armrest, curling my fingers over the end.

The Doctor nodded, realizing I had a point. He continued scanning the windows, just in case.

“What I don’t get is, when they killed the Prime Minister, why didn’t they use him as a disguise?” Rose asked.

“He’s too slim. They’re big old beasts.” The Doctor explained. “They need to fit inside big humans.”

“But the Slitheen are about eight feet. How do they fit inside?” Rose asked.

I turned to Penelope, arms still poised on the arm rest.  _ ‘Behold my excellence, Penelope, your Lord and Master. Listen to my half of the theme song. Dundundundun. Dundundundun.’ _

Penelope oinked, unimpressed.

I leaned back in my chair, bored.  _ ‘Darcy would have laughed...maybe.’ _

“That’s the device around their necks.” The Time Lord explained. “Compression field. Literally shrinks them down a bit. That’s why there’s all that gas. It’s a big exchange.”

“Wish I had a compression field. I could fit a size smaller.” The companion mumbled.

“You’re already a dwarf.” I smiled. She stuck her tongue out at me. I stuck mine back. “Don’t feel too bad. Short people are closer to hell, that’s why they’re always angry.”

She laughed.

“Excuse me, people are dead! This is not the time for making jokes.” Harriet scolded us from her seat next to mine. 

“Sorry.” We both said, lowering our heads slightly in shame.

“You get used to this stuff when you’re friends with them.” Rose excused herself.

“Well, that’s a strange friendship.” The MP said.

I fixed my hair, if for nothing more than to keep my hands busy. “Humor keeps the situation light. If we’re panicking, we’re not thinking clearly.”

“Harriet Jones. I’ve heard that name before.” The Doctor rummaged in his mind for the memories. “Harriet Jones. You’re not famous for anything, are you?”

The woman scoffed. “Oh, hardly.”

“Rings a bell. Harriet Jones?” The Doctor continued muttering to himself, pacing around the room.

“Lifelong backbencher I’m afraid, and a fat lot of use I’m being now.” She said, closing the briefcase. “The Protocols are redundant. They list the people who could help and they’re all dead downstairs.”

“Hasn’t it got, like, defence codes and things? Couldn’t we just launch a nuclear bomb at them?” Rose asked, coming up between Harriet and I.

I eyed her warily, lifting my hand to my chest like one of those old fashioned ladies  _ putting on the vapors _ or however that saying goes. “I’m an American, and even I think that’s a bit much.”

“I’m serious. We could.” The companion said, looking to Harriet for assurance.

She gave none. “Well, there’s nothing like that in here. Nuclear strikes  _ do _ need a release code, yes, but it’s kept secret by the United Nations.”

The Doctor halted in his pacing. He walked up to Harriet’s side. “Say that again.”

“What, about the codes?” Harriet asked.

“Anything. All of it.”

The MP paused, thinking over what else she could add. “Well, the British Isles can’t gain access to atomic weapons without a Special Resolution from the UN.”

Rose scoffed. “Like that’s ever stopped them.”

I frowned. She had a point. “Especially when aliens are involved.” I pointed out to them.

“Exactly, and I voted against that, thank you very much.” Harriet voiced her opinion. The Doctor’s face was set in thought, running through every scenario that the Slitheen could be up to. “The codes have been taken out of the government’s hands and given to the UN. Is it important?” She asked the Doctor.

“Everything’s important.” He correctly answered.

“If we only knew what the Slitheen wanted.” Harriet commented.

My hand reached up to my face, covering my mouth with my fist in thought. I knew what they wanted, and how they were going to get there. Now, I had to explain it to everyone else using the information only they had. It was sort of like solving one of those children’s menu mazes by starting at the finish line and the starting line and going until they meet. Actually, it’s nothing like that at all. If it helps, then it’s like that.

So. What did these three know about Slitheen? They were a family. They were disguised in fat humans, with compression technology. They were at the top of our government. They could turn a pig into an alien. They thought this was a  _ ‘God forsaken rock’. _ That...was it. Blimey, not much, but I’ve built FBI cases off of less.

“Listen to me. I’m saying Slitheen as if it’s normal.” Harriet said, bringing me back to our conversation.

“What do they want, though?” Rose asked, not caring if the Doctor or I answered.

I leaned forward, resting my arms on the table. “They have to want  _ something. _ They don’t care for planet Earth, but they’re still something valuable on it.”

“Well, they’re just one family, so it’s not an invasion. They don’t want  _ Slitheen World _ .” The Doctor said.

“Family business, so they’re out to make money.” I added, rubbing my chin. “That means they’re something here on Earth they find some value in. Not the people.” I glanced back at the closet, then Penelope. “Or the animal life.” The pig snorted innocently, having no idea what I was talking about. I reached out, gently scratching her behind the ear.

The Doctor was smiling at me. “Some kind of asset.” He finished.

“Like what, gold? Oil?” The future Prime Minister turned to me, grasping at straws. “Water?”

The Doctor smiled at us both. “You two are very good at this.”

“Thank you.” Harriet accepted the compliment, bashful.

I didn’t. My arms went back into my pockets, holding my phone again. “Oh from you, that’s high praise.” I smirked, actually liking the compliment.

“Harriet Jones. Why do I know that name?” He went back to his mumblings.

There was a ping, more like a beep. “Oh, that’s me.” Rose said.

There was another beep right after. “And there’s mine.” I pulled it out, wondering what Darcy did that she needed to text me for.

“But we’re sealed off. How did the two of you get signals?” Harriet asked.

Strange enough, it was from an unknown number. This could be from someone else in my future, and my curiosity was begging me to check.

“He zapped them. Superphones.” Rose explained, ever so technically.

“Hey, just out of curiosity, can I get texts from the future on this thing?”

The Doctor eyed me oddly. “No, why’re you asking?”

“Just out of curiosity, like I said.” I went back to the phone, reading the text.

Unk#’s text _ : React and they die. -Garfield Logan _

Well, way to be a mood killer. I glanced up at the humans and the Doctor, the Time Lord keeping his eyes on me. I smirked, waving the phone like nothing was wrong.

He had found me. The thing I had feared since seeing Rose’s poster, and it had come true. How had he done it? Did UNIT write some report on me or something? If Logan knew I traveled with the Doctor, than the smart thing to do was to wait for an alert to go off about him. Like the one that brought us here, Storyline damn it.

Penelope snorted in the chair beside me, so I used her as a sort of medium to calm me down. If I could save the mermaid pig, then I could find a way out of this.

Terra’s text: _ Hello Logan. What do you want? _

“Then we can phone for help. You must have contacts.” Harriet said to the Doctor, hopeful.

“Dead downstairs, yeah.” He said dryly.

Unk#’s text: _ You’ll see. _

“And who are you texting?” The Doctor asked us, almost annoyed.

“No idea.” I said. How did he even get this number? My sister doesn’t even have this number! I mean, not the one on my timeline. The future one I’ve been calling, oh definitely.

Getting off topic! I pulled up the texts from Logan, wondering what his game was.

Terra’s text:  _ Who’ll die? _

“It’s Mickey.” Rose answered, annoyed. Apparently  _ someone _ didn’t like the constant interruptions.

The Doctor rolled his eyes. “Oh, tell your stupid boyfriend we’re busy.”

Rose smirked, holding up her phone. I walked up to it, seeing a picture of the Slitheen. “Yeah, he’s not so stupid after all.”

Garfield Logan responded. It was always harder texting with this old style phones.

Unk#’s text: _ Jackie and Mickey _

I paused, forcing my shoulders not to tighten in nerves. They’ll be fine, as long as I don’t react. He didn’t want the Doctor’s attention, just mine.

Rose called Mickey, listening to the long explanation of how they had been attacked by the Slitheen. Sip Fel Fotch, I think. I was focusing on my conversation with Logan.

Terra’s text _ : What do you want? _

There was a short pause. Unk#’s text: _ Do you honestly think I’ll tell you? _

Terra’s text: _ Kinda. It’s why I asked. _

Unk#’s text: _ I’m not stupid. _

Why did I have the feeling he said that with sass?

Terra’s text: _ Why text me at all? What’s the point of finding me when you’re not going to scare me? _

Rose’s expression grew more and more dreadful as Mickey went. She turned to the Doctor and I, trying to explain it to us. I tuned her out, instead waiting for Logan’s reply.

Unk#’s text: _ I don’t scare you now? _

Terra’s text _ : I’m not scared of a guy who wants me to call him Tiger. Or, as I now refer to you, Mister ‘Frosted Flakes’. _

That felt overly brave, but told Logan I took no shit from him.

Mickey had apparently still been explaining the incident to her. “Is she alright, though?” Rose asked, reminding me I had a day job. She grimaced. “Don’t put her on, just tell me.”

The Doctor reached around, snatching the phone out of Rose’s hand. I whistled, half expecting her to slap him. Rose gave me a look.

“Is that Ricky? Don’t talk, just shut up and go to your computer.” The Doctor said.

Rose came a bit closer. “What was that whistle for?”

“He took the phone from the missus.” I stated sarcastically. “How is he not dead?”

Rose rolled her eyes, smiling childishly at me. “Better the missus than his  _ baby. _ ”

My smile dropped, replaced by a look of withheld shock, the nickname bringing up more teasing from when I was a child. That’s right, they called me a baby too.  _ That  _ wasn’t emotional scarring at 35. “Don’t call me a baby.” I said, coldly.

“Mickey the Idiot, I might just choke before I finish this sentence, but, er, I need you.” The Doctor said, making Rose grin.

My phone beeped again. I looked down at the message, feeling on edge.

_ Unk#’s text: Then I guess I’ll have to try harder. _

 

==CON==

 

Penelope had moved for her lone chair my lap. I was brushing on the fine hairs on her body, trying to calm myself down. The pig preferred this, licking at my hand whenever it got too close to her mouth. I think she could still smell the pig feed on my hands, or maybe pig’s were just this affectionate. I wouldn’t know, the last time I was around a pig was over a hundred years ago and it was Wilbur.

Logan hadn’t texted me in a  few minutes, and I couldn’t decide if that was good or bad.  _ The problem isn’t when you see them, it’s when they disappear. _ In the pause, I had made his phone a contact in my phone if anything so this wouldn’t repeat.

The Doctor kept glancing over at me, then my phone. Had he noticed my slight panic? Did he think I was texting someone in the future? Was there some kind of Time Lord thing where he knew what I was thinking, because I was one too?

Yeah. Actually, that’s a good question. Why couldn’t the Doctor smell I was a Time Lord? Could it have something to do with the Time Lords messing up my memories? Did Logan do something at the Reinbach Falls when he went inside my mind? Did he cut me off from my kind? I spoke with Penelope telepathically, so it’s not gone all together.

So, what was it? I didn’t have enough facts. It was insane.

The Doctor had directed Mickey to the UNIT website, while I was off to the side thinking introspectively. He connected Rose’s phone to the speakers. “Say again.”

_ “It’s asking for the password.” _ Mickey said.

I huffed, annoyed at the boy. What? I didn’t like being falsely accused of murder! It’s really aggravating. After many decades of being a cop, there were a lot of people who had tried to discredit me so as to get away with their crime. I understood why Mickey was upset about it, don’t get me wrong. Five times  _ is _ a few times too many for a murder that didn’t even happen.

Why didn’t they just say that the Autons did it? Dozens, if not hundreds, of others died that night because of them. Maybe the fact that they couldn’t find Rose’s body was miss-

Woah. I’m overworked. I’m trying to profile a murder where the victim is across the table from me.

“Buffalo.” My fellow Time Lord emphasised the word. “Two Fs, one L.”

Penelope oinked, apparently I had gone lax on her petting. I rolled my eyes, continuing the treatment. Was I spoiling this pig? Yes. Would I stop? Two loved them too much.

Jackie’s voice came over the speaker. I smirked, remembering the slap from this morning.  _ “So, what’s that website?” _

_ “All the secret information known to mankind.” _ Mickey answered.  _ “See, they’ve known about aliens for years. They just kept us in the dark.” _

“Mickey, you were born in the dark.” The Doctor 

I laughed. “ _ Burn _ .”

“Oh, leave him alone, the two of you.” The young human warned. I dug into that teenage apathy, slouching back in my chair. 

_ “Thank you.” _ Mickey said, cheekily.  _ “Password again.” _

“Just repeat it every time.” The Doctor said, starting to pace. Harriet handed a drink to Rose, then to me. I smiled, hoping it might be the whiskey from earlier. I knew I should keep myself focused, but at the same time I wanted a drink.

“ _ Hold on, who was that girl?”  _ Jackie asked.  _ “The one that laughed?” _

“Terra Johnson.” I introduced myself. Harriet made another drink, giving it to the Doctor. “I was in your apartment earlier. The girl in the purple hoodie?”

_ “You? But, you were just a kid.” _ Jackie said, sounding sad.

I rolled my eyes. “Yep. That’s me.” With that, I took a taste of the drink Harriet had given me. Luck be a lady, it  _ was _ whiskey!

_ “Haven’t you got any family?” _ Jackie asked. I frowned, staring off in thought.  _ “Anyone looking for you _ ?”

Now I was getting annoyed. “Why does everyone suddenly want to know about my family?” I barked.

_ “It’s a fair question.” _ Logan’s voice came from the speakerphone.

_ ‘Oh. So that’s what he meant by React and they die.’  _ I thought. “Who are you?” I said, for show. This was ruining any credibility when I told the Doctor truth. He would never believe something as fickle as  _ he texted me into silence. _

_ “No one special. Nothing like you.” _ Logan said.  _ “But I’ve heard a lot about you. You’re all over the history books. The one thing nobody can find is your family. Let’s change that.” _

_ ‘Let’s change that.’ A dark voice spoke in my mind. _

_ ‘I want you scared, Morgan, simply because you’re so adorable when petrified.’ _

_ ‘Don’t worry. You’ll do fine.’ _

_ ‘You’re inside a time machine, and you ask about the Wi-Fi?’ _

_ ‘Terra, shouldn’t we be...I don’t know...running?’ _

_ ‘I remember kicking your ass.’ _

_ ‘Please tell me I didn’t look like that.’ ‘Wasn’t really paying attention. We were a bit busy then.’ _

_ ‘Stay alive! Don’t break any laws! And, most importantly, do not do anything I would do!’ _

I pushed the memories away, knowing this was the time or the place. “No, let’s not.” I snapped at them. “So can we just drop it?”

Rose turned to me, concerned for her friend. “Terra, I’m-”

“ _ Drop. It _ .” I nearly growled, holding Penelope closer to me.

Little did I know that across town, Jackie and Logan were exchanging a look. That Logan was putting on a mask of pain, like I was. That he wanted so badly for the two survivors that he was another one of my victims.

But I didn’t know that. I only knew that there was a heaviness over my hearts, that it was almost hurting to take in air, that the man that murdered my loved ones was threatening Rose’s. Oh, loved ones, that was too soft a description for them. They were the first faces my face saw. Eleven in that purple tweed and bowtie, a haunted look in his eyes as he realized Logan was speaking in my mind. Oswin, a girl who seemed to genuinely care for Four to the point of hugging the Time Lady. Fourth Terra, who sacrificed her life so that I could have mine.

They were a part of me now. My purple hoodie, that closest I felt to Doc’s purple tweed. My short brown hair was probably from Oswin, even the shade seemed close to her’s. What did I have from Four? The journal, the armbands for protection, the headband to keep my eyes clear, the crushing guilt that eventually I would be killed by Logan so he and I were unavoidable?

Penelope oinked in my arms. I took a breath, to calm myself. “ _ Alouette, gentille alouette. Alouette je te plumerai.” _ I hummed under my breath.

The Doctor put his drink down on the table, helping us move past this topic. “Big Ben-why did the Slitheen go and hit Big Ben?”

I gave him an thankful smile. The Time Lord gave a curt nod back. He had understood that my family was a sensitive subject, almost as sensitive as his. Would he still feel the same when he found out about me?

“You said to gather the experts, to kill them.” Harriet said.

“That lot would’ve gathered for a weather balloon.” The Doctor explained. “You don’t need to crash land in the middle of London.”

“The Slitheen are hiding, but then they put the entire planet on Red alert. What would they do that for?” Rose smartly pointed out.

_ “Oh, listen to her.” _ Her mother remarked.

“At least I’m trying.” Rose defended herself.

“She’s actually got a good point.” I helped.

Jackie scoffed. _ “Well, I’ve got a question, if you don’t mind.”  _ The fierce Tyler woman began her rant. I was thanking my Story that I wasn’t in the same room as her, lest I be slapped. The I remembered Logan actually  _ was _ in the room with her.  _ “Since that man walked into our lives, I have been attacked in the streets. I have had creatures from the pits of hell in my own living room, and my daughter disappear off the face of the Earth.” _

“I told you what happened.” The teenager said, rolling her eyes.

“It was Mister Magoo’s fault.” I pointed a finger at the man.

“Oi! What’d you call me?” The Doctor asked, insulted.

“Learn to drive, and I’ll come up with something different.” I explained..

_ “I’m talking to them.” _ Jackie said, making me wince.  _ “‘Cos I’ve seen this life of yours, Doctor, Terra, and maybe you get off on it, and maybe you think it’s all clever and smart, but you tell me. Just answer me this. Is my daughter safe?” _

“I’m fine.” Rose assured.

_ “Is she safe?”  _ Jackie pressed on.  _ “Will she always be safe? Can you promise me that?” _

I looked down at my shoes in shame. There was no way I could promise her that. Rose’ll go on to be the Bad Wolf, nearly dying. She’ll be taken away from us in Torchwood. Then, the day the creator of the Daleks came back, she’ll leave with the Doctor’s clone and never see us again. She be close to death several times along the way, constantly being chased by werewolves or cat nuns or Daleks or Cybermen or  _ anything _ .

Rose wasn’t safe. No one was, but Rose more than any of them. She hung out with the Doctor and I.

_ “Well, what’s the answer?” _ Jackie spoke up again.

Neither the Doctor or I answered her. Everyone around me was dying, especially the people I cared for. If I wasn’t careful, Jackie and Mickey would be next.  _ The Doctor _ could be next, or Rose, or Penelope, or Harriet.

_ Or Darcy. _

_ “We’re in.”  _ Mickey said, breaking the tense moment.

The Time Lords hopped into action. I put Penelope on the ground, giving her the space she needed to run around.

“Now then, on the left at the top, there’s a tab, an icon.” The Doctor explained, standing beside me now. “Little concentric circles. Click on that.”

_ “What is it?” _ Logan asked, almosting making me wince but I caught it.

“The Slitheen have got a spaceship in the North Sea and it’s transmitting that signal.” The Doctor answered him. A part of me felt sick seeing them have a conversation that didn’t involve him being threatened with the Oncoming Storm. “Now hush, let me work out what it’s saying.”

_ “They’ll have to answer me one day.” _ Jackie said. Mickey hushed her.

It was weird, but I could almost hear what was being said on the message. It was in some guttural language, like the Sycorax but not exactly like it. It was the same dialect, I guess. Maybe they were in the same star system? Just when I thought I could actually hear  _ words _ , the thing started over again.

“It’s some sort of message.” The Time Lord said.

“What is it saying?” I said, more to myself.

“Don’t know. It’s on a loop, keeps repeating.” Was his response.

I listened carefully. The message seemed to be short, shorter than most advertisements here on Earth. Out of nowhere, there was a shrill noise in my ears. 

“Shut up Mickey!” I barked.

_ “That’s not me. _ ” Mickey almost whined.

_ “Jackie, go and see who that is.” _ Logan suggested.

_ “It’s three o’clock in the morning.” _

_ “Yes, so go tell them that.”  _ Logan half ordered. I glared at the phone, still a bit miffed at the doorbell.

“It’s beaming out into space, who’s it for?” The Doctor said.

“Advertisement.” I said, pretending to be hit by a stroke of genius. The Doctor turned to me, but motioned to go on. “It’s a family  _ business _ . They’re something on Earth they want-”

“So they’re telling everyone that they have it.” The Doctor finished my thought. I nodded. “Good job.”

I smirked. “It’s the logical conclusion-”

_ “It’s him! It’s the thing, it’s the Slipeen!” _

“Slitheen.” I corrected. The impact of her words hitting soon after. “

“ _ They’ve found us.” _ Logan said, almost sounding afraid. He couldn’t be. Garfield Logan couldn’t be afraid of a Slitheen. A man capable of seven murders does not get scared of an alien.

“Mickey, I need that signal.” The Doctor argued.

“Never mind the signal, get out!” Rose shouted. “Mum, just get out! Get out!”

I frowned, almost wanting to smile. If they did get out, they would be away from Logan.

_ “We can’t. It’s by the front door.”  _ Mickey said. My almost smile fell. Great, now they were trapped between a rock and a hard place.  _ “Oh, my God, it’s unmasking. It’s going to kill us.” _

_ “Quit being so melodramatic!” _ Logan shouted back at Mickey.

“There’s got to be some way of stopping them!” Harriet said, suddenly reminding me of her presence. Dang, no wonder she keeps introducing herself. She turned to the Doctor, furious. “You’re supposed to be the expert, think of something!”

“I’m trying!” The Doctor and I shouted at her. The Time Lord marched away, 

_ “Logan and me can take it on, Jackie.” _ Mickey said.  _ “You just run. Don’t look back. Just run.” _

_ “And just  _ how _ , Mickey, is she supposed to do that?”  _ Logan growled at him.

My mind was working in overdrive to think of someway to get Logan accidentally murdered by the Slitheen.

Rose looked to each of us, before settling on the Doctor. “That’s my mother.” She pleaded.

As usual, the Doctor caved for her. “Right, If we’re going to find their weakness, we need to find out where they’re from.” He marched up to her side, while I walked over to the end of the table. “Which planet. So, judging by their basic shape, that narrows it down to five thousand planets within travelling distance.”

The four of us ended up at my side of the table, though with the Doctor at the head. 

“What else do we know about them? Information!” He ordered.

“They’re green.” Rose said first. We could still hear some fearful murmurs from Jackie over the line.

The Doctor nodded. “Yep, narrows it down.”

“Good sense of smell.” Rose added.

“Narrows it down.”

“They can smell adrenalin.” I clarified.

“Narrows it down.”

Harriet joined in on the crazy train. “The pig technology.”

“Narrows it down.”

“The spaceship in the Thames.” The companion began.

“Slipstream engine!” I finished for her.

“Narrows it down.”

_ “It’s getting in!”  _ Mickey warmed us.

_ “Give me the bat, Mickey.” _ Logan said.  _ “I’ve got a better swing.” _

“They hunt like it’s a ritual.” I said, worried about Logan with a wooden bat.

“Narrows it down.”

“Wait a minute. Did you notice?” Harriet began making the Time Lords stare at her expectantly. “When they fart, if you’ll pardon the word, it doesn’t just smell like a fart, if you’ll pardon the word, it’s something else. What is it? It’s more like, er.”

“Bad breath!” I helped.

“That’s it!” The MP cheered.

“Calcium decay! Now,  _ that _ narrows it down!” The Doctor was getting excited, which was good news for us.

“We’re getting there, Mum!” Rose assured her mother.

_ “Too late!”  _ Mickey shouted.

_ “Shut up Mickey!” _ Logan snapped.

The Time Lord matched towards the door, me following after him. He muttered to himself, getting louder the further he went. Penelope found this all very exciting, squealing with excitement as she ran around the room. “Calcium phosphate. Organic calcium. Living calcium. Creatures made out of living calcium. What else? What else?”

“Fel Fotch Slitheen. That’s a hyphenated surname!” I said, snapping my fingers.

“Yes! That narrows it down to one planet.” The Doctor cheered. “Raxacoricofallapatorius!” The alien clapped his hands, rushing back to the middle of the table.

_ “Oh, yeah, great. We could write ‘em a letter.” _ Mickey grumbled.

“If he knows where they’re from, he can find the weakness!” I reminded Mickey.

Immediately after, there was the unmissable sound of a door breaking apart. The Slitheen roared.

“Get into the kitchen!” The Doctor said, smiling like an idiot.

Logan grunted, which was followed by a loud crashing noise and an angry roar from the Slitheen.  _ “Go! Go!” _ I guess he whacked the Slitheen.

_ “My God, it’s going to rip us apart!” _ Jackie cried out. Logan hitting him would only make him angrier, so it wasn’t looking good for them. 

“Calcium, weakened by the compression field.” The Doctor muttered to himself. “Acetic acid. Vinegar!”

“Just like Hannibal!” Harriet realized.

“Just like Hannibal.” The Doctor grinned. “Mickey, have you got any vinegar?”

_ “How should I know?”  _ Mickey asked, annoyed.

“It’s your kitchen.”

Rose shook her head. “Cupboard by the sink, middle shelf.”

_ “Oh, give it here. _ ” Jackie half scolded Mickey.  _ “What do you need?” _ She asked the Doctor.

“Vinegar!” I shouted. “All the vinegar filled foods you can find!”

_ “Gherkins. Yeah, pickled onions. Pickled eggs.” _ Jackie said as she grabbed each item.

The Doctor shook his head, looking up at Rose disbelievingly. “And you  _ kiss _ this man?” He said with disgust. 

 

==CON==

 

At the apartment, Logan made his move. He tossed the bat to Mickey, just as the Slitheen broke the kitchen door down. He grabbed the concoction of various vinegar goods from Jackie.

Sip Fel Fotch roared, fury in his all black eyes. He raised his claws, ready to strike. He would  _ not _ lose this hunt!

Logan smiled darkly. He wouldn’t lose either. He reeled his arm back, slinging the vinegar tub at the green monster. 

The alien paused, slowly realizing what it was covered in. He farted one last time, then exploded all over the Smith’s kitchen.

Jackie and Mickey were disgusted, but Logan stood there with a big malicious grin on his face. 

 

==CON==

 

You could feel the release of tension at the explosion of the Slitheen. I sat back in my original seat, Penelope coming up to my feet.

“Hannibal?” Rose asked.

“Hannibal crossed the Alps by dissolving boulders with vinegar.” I explained, scratching behind Penelope’s ears. 

“Oh. Well, there you go then.” Rose said, picking up her glass.

The four of us had a toast to a job well done, but I kept my eyes on the phone. 

 

==CON==

 

It wasn’t long before we were dragged back into World War Three.

_ “Listen to this.” _ Mickey suddenly said.

The four of us gathered around the phone. Jocrassa’s voice came out. A news conference.

_ “Our inspectors have searched the sky above our heads and they have found massive weapons of destruction capable of being deployed within forty five seconds.” _

“What?” The Doctor gaped.

Jocrassa went on to explain how technicians had been baffled by the aliens. He said the world was at war, and pleaded with the United Nations to real ease the nuclear access codes.

“But, the TARDIS would’ve picked those up.” I said, looking to the Doctor for agreement. “When you did the scan.”

The Time Lord started marching around the table. “Exactly. He’s making it up. There’s no weapons up there, there’s no threat. He just invented it.”

“And everyone will believe him because they’re scared.” I stated, shaking my head.

“Do you think they’ll believe him?” The MP asked us.

“They did last time.” The companion said, shaking her own head.

“ _ That’s _ why the Slitheen went for spectacle.” The Doctor said. “They want the whole world panicking, because you lot, you get scared, you lash out.”

“They release the defence code-” I began.

“And the Slitheen go nuclear.” The Doctor finished.

“But why?” Harriet asked.

“The advertisement.” I reminded the Doctor, that sense of dread coming back to haunt me.

It all clicked in the Doctor’s mind. His eyes sharpened almost in anger as he marched over to the door. He flipped the switch, opening it to reveal three of the new Slitheen family members.

“You get the codes, release the missiles, but not into space because there’s nothing there.” The Doctor said to them. They hissed.

Blon walked up, though in her Margaret skin suit. She was proud, already sure of her success.  _ They always are. _

“You attack every other country on Earth. They retaliate, fight back.” The Doctor went on. “World War Three. Whole planet gets nuked.”

Blon smiled darkly. “And we can sit through it safe in our spaceship waiting in the Thames. Not crashed, just parked. Only two minutes away.”

“But you’ll destroy the planet, this beautiful place. What for?” Harriet asked.

“Profit.” I spat. “It’s their business. That’s what the signal is beaming into space. An advertisement.  _ Come to Earth. _ ”

Blown tilted her head tauntingly at me. “Forgive me, but who are you?”

“Terra.” I snapped, my lips curling into a snarl. “And I’m not letting you  _ sell _ planet Earth.”

“It’s the sale of the century.” The Slitheen argued, perfectly calm. “We reduce the Earth to molten slag, then sell it piece by piece.” Blon said, delighted to monologue her evil plan to us. “Radioactive chucks, capable of powering every cut-price star liner and budget cargo ship. There’s a recession out there, Doctor,  _ Terra _ . People are buying cheap. This rock becomes raw fuel.”

“At the cost of every living thing on this planet.” I almost growled.

Blon snorted. “Bargain.”

The Doctor took back the reins. “I give you a choice. Leave this planet or I’ll stop you.” He warned.

“And I’ll help him.” I said, my voice filled with barely held back anger.

The female Slitheen laughed. Her relatives behind her laughing with her. I glared, angrily.

“What, the two of you?” She took brave steps towards us. I poised my hand over the button, ready to close it at a moment’s notice. “Trapped in your box?”

“Yes. Us.” The Doctor said in full seriousness.

I grew a crazed grin, almost menacing, as I pushed down on the button.

Blon’s face finally showed emotion. Fear.

 

==CON==

 

Penelope rested in my lap, literally. She’s fallen asleep some twenty minutes ago, and I was fine with letting her rest. She’d had a busy day. Kidnapped by aliens, dressed up as an alien, crashed in an alien ship, nearly shot, hunted, trapped in a box, and then finding out I would be her owner. Let’s not forget her meeting of the Doctor and Rose. That could drive anyone nuts, look what it did to me.

Anyway, hours had passed since we had confronted the Slitheen. The sun has risen, everyone thought the world was going to end, and Logan had begun texting me again.

Logan’s text: I killed two officers today.

That had hurt. Their deaths had been on me, for practically writing an invitation for Logan to find me here.

Terra’s text: Why?

Logan’s text: Because I could.

Logan’s text: They were outside of Jackie Tyler’s flat. Such nice men.

Terra’s text: No. Why tell me this?

Logan’s text: I killed two officers of the law, because I could. What do you think I would do to these two boring humans?

Terra’s text: I did what you wanted, leave them alone.

Each text felt like someone chipping away at my confidence. My soul had been sold to the devil, and I had to wait to see the price.

Logan’s text: I could take Mickey out with a flick of my wrist. With him down, I could extra fun with Jacqueline Tyler. What would Rose Tyler think of you then? Or the Doctor? I bet that will eat you up inside.

Terra’s text: I’m serious. Leave them alone. 

Logan’s text: You were his last hope for his people. The last Time Lady. You turned out to be a huge disappointment.

Terra’s text: I’m not scared of you, Frosted Flakes.

Logan’s text: I’m not scared of you either, Terra Two.

That had been an hour ago. My nerves had been so high after that I pulled Penelope into my lap, brushing on her head to calm me. The pig had no problems with the arrangement. She went to sleep, she had been the only one.

The Doctor learned the way out a while ago, I could see it in his eyes. He started moping by a nearby window, eyes downcast and arms angrily crossed.

_ “Doctor, I’m not saying I trust you, but there must be something you can do.”  _ Jackie pleaded.

“If we could ferment the port, we could make acetic acid.” Harriet offered. When no one responded, she realized it wouldn’t work.

“Mickey, any luck?” Rose asked her soon to be ex-boyfriend.

_ “There’s loads of emergency numbers. They’re all on voicemail.” _ Mickey said.

“Voicemail dooms us all.” Harriet said. She was starting to learn the glory of jokes.

“If we could just get out of here.” Rose grumbled, pacing along the floor.

“He’s got a plan.” I commented, not even looking up from Penelope. Neither the Doctor nor I could look Rose in the eye.

“What?”

“The Doctor’s got a way out.” I clarified.

“How can you tell?” Rose asked.

“Cause when he thinks, I can feel my own IQ dropping by osmosis.” Not lifting my head, I looked up at the Doctor. He was glaring at me, but in understanding. I was figuring him out and he didn’t like it.

Rose turned to him, surprised. He may keep secrets, but if he had an idea he would share it. It may have been stupid, but he would have said it. “Then why don’t we use it?”

The Doctor kept his lips in a tight line.

“You wanna tell her, or let me?” I offered, keeping my gaze level with his. This was the role I was playing now; teenage girl who’s seen some shit and can see through your bull. It was a good role on me.

The Doctor walked up to the phone. He was far braver than I was... “Because I can’t guarantee your daughter will be safe.” He told Jackie.

_ “Don’t you dare. Whatever it is, don’t you dare.” _ Jackie warned us.

“That’s the thing.” The Doctor said, speaking calmly to the mother. I put Penelope down on the chair, letting her sleep soundly. I laid my hands out on the table, leaning over so I could speak clearly into the phone. “If I don’t dare, everyone dies.”

“It’s all we have, Jackie.” I stressed, though kept my voice calm like the Doctor’s. “If there was another way, we’d have found it by now.”

The companion walked up to my side. “Do it.” She said, complete faith in us.

“You don’t even know what it is. You’d just let me?” The Doctor asked.

Rose nodded her head, no doubt in her eyes. “Yeah.”

_ “Please Doctor. Please. She’s my daughter.”  _ Jackie pleaded.  _ “And that little girl, Terra, is just a kid. They’re both just kids.” _

“I’m not  _ just a kid _ .” I defended myself. “And Rose isn’t either. Jackie, your daughter is a brave, brilliant girl. Any parent would be proud of her and what’s she done the past two days.”

Meanwhile, my mother has a heart attack whenever I’m left home alone. My mother tried changing me into something I’m not. Mom wanted me to be this pretty cheerleader, with A’s in every class, dolled up with makeup and dress, and a love of all things normal teenagers liked.

But this was who I was. Fighting aliens, saving lives, and making smartass comments along the way. I wasn’t a pushover, or a baby, or a little kid. I was 179 years old, and dammit no one was going to make me feel any less.

The Doctor looked down at the phone, an angry glare in his eyes. “Do you think I don’t know that? Because this is my life, Jackie. It’s not fun, it’s not smart, it’s just standing up and making a decision because nobody else will.”

“Then what’re you waiting for?” Rose asked, voice soft.

He looked Rose in the eyes. “I could save the world but lose you.”

There was a long silence as Rose and the Doctor stared at each other. Well, now my second heart was shattering. Call me after I regenerate, thank you. Maybe the next one will be blonde, or have longer hair. Storyline, I only hope she doesn’t wear pink.

Seeing them exchanging conversation, it reminded me of my conversations with Darcy our first few days together. That girl trusted me to the moon and back. Anything I said became law, and she soaked it up. She had been six, which I think accounted for most of it. She stood by my through all the good and the bad, all the times I doubted myself and she helped build me back to up code.

Darcy Anderson, I should really call her soon. I wonder if she looks the same in this world, same black hair and purple eyes. Unlike me, with brown short hair and two hearts. Her personality won’t have changed, I know that.

“Except it’s not your decision, Doctor.” Harriet said, standing tall and proud. “It’s mine.” She said, 

_ “And who the hell are you?”  _ Jackie snapped.

“Harriet Jones, MP for Flydale North.” She stated, unaffected by Jackie’s comment. “The only  _ elected _ representative in this room, chosen by the people for the people.” She turned to the look at the Doctor. “And on behalf of the people, I command you. Do it.”

The Doctor grinned, crazy as ever. I grinned back. He grabbed the red briefcase, clocking open the locks.

“How do we get out?” Rose asked

“We don’t.” The Doctor said, pulling out some of the emergency protocols. “We stay here.”

I grabbed a few, searching through them. They were mostly the basic stuff. Terrorists, bio-warfare, there was one about a repeat of the Titanic that almost made me laugh. I found the one of the missles, handing it to the Doctor.

“Use the buffalo password.” I told Mickey, putting the other files back in the briefcase. The Doctor was reading the file I handed him. “It should override everything.”

_ “What’re you doing?” _ Jackie asked.

_ “Hacking into the Royal Navy.” _ Mickey answered. My hand  _ “We’re in. Here it is. HMS Taurean, Trafalgar Class submarine, ten miles off the coast of Plymouth.” _

The Doctor nodded. “Right, we need to select a missile.”

_ “We can’t go nuclear. We don’t have the defence codes.” _ Mickey reminded. 

I snorted. The Time Lord smirked with me. “We don’t need it. All we need’s an ordinary missile.”

“What’s the first category?” I asked, becoming serious again.

_ “Sub Harpoon, UGM-A4A.”  _ Mickey answered.

“That’s the one. Select.” The Doctor instructed.

_ “I could stop you.”  _ Jackie warned.

_ “And I could stop you _ .” Logan said, though I knew he was talking to me.

I shook away the fear. This was not the time or place. “You ready for this?” The Doctor asked.

There was a pause before a shaky  _ “Yeah.” _

“Mickey the idiot.”

“Mickey the kid.” I added.

“The world is in your hands.” The Doctor told him. “Fire.”

Harriet walked over to the windows. “How solid are these?” She pressed her hands against them, testing it.

I looked to the Doctor for another history lesson. “Not solid enough. Built for short range attack, nothing this big.”

“Alright, now I’m making the decision.” Rose said, walking over to the cupboard where we put the bodies. “I’m not going to die. We’re going to ride this one out.” She opened the door, looking inside. I picked up the sleeping Penelope, proud of where Rose was going with this. “It’s like what they say about earthquakes. You can survive them by standing under a door frame.”

“Good on ya, Rose.” I said, coming up behind her.

Rose smiled at me, looking over to Harriet and the Doctor. “Now, this cupboard’s small so it’s strong. Come and help me. Come on.”

Harriet came running, moving stuff out to fit our bodies. I rested Penelope down near Indra, then helped the humans.

_ “It’s on radar.” _ Mickey said suddenly.  _ “Counter defence five five six.” _

The Doctor went to the red phone. “Stop them intercepting it.”

“ _ I’m doing it now.”  _ Mickey said.

“Good boy.” The Time Lord complimented. Well, it was the best Mickey would get from him.

There was a minute of more panicked unpacking before  _ “Five five six neutralized.” _

The Doctor unplugged the phone, coming over to help with the last of the boxes.

The five of us managed to squeeze under the shelves. Penelope had been woken up in the chaos, so I just smiled wide at her.

“Here we go. Nice knowing you three.” I ended up by the door, so I held Rose and Penelope’s hand. My foot was used to shut the door. “Hannibal!” She said, like some group cheer.

Boom.

 

==CON==

 

My headband fell off, instead hanging around my neck like a weird necklace.

When we landed, that was my first conscious fault. What’s wrong with me that after escaping certain death I think about a cosmetic? Maybe it’s gotten boring, or maybe I was trying to make a poor joke.

The Doctor was the first on his feet, kicking down the metal door. Alarms were blaring outside. I was up next, Penelope running out the door.

“Penelope!” I called out to her. The pig paused, turning back to me. I climbed out of the box, seeing Harriet come out behind me. “Get back over here!”

I made it over the wreckage to my pig, lifting her up into my arms. She squealed, not liking the area around us. “It’s alright, Penelope, it’s alright. We made it out.”

A man dressed in kevlar came up to us, Sergeant Price I think. “Oh, my God.” He went up to Harriet. “Are you alright?”

She held up her card. “Harriet Jones. MP, Flydale North. I want you to contact UN immediately. Tell the ambassadors the crisis is over. They can step down.”

I stood by Rose, hating the fact that my headband was a necklace and my hair was blowing about in the breeze. Again,  _ what is wrong with me? _

“Go on, tell the news.” Harriet put the card back in her pocket.

Price nodded. “Yes, ma’am.” He ran off.

Harriet turned back to us. “Someone’s got a hell of a job sorting this lot out. Oh, Lord. We haven’t even got a Prime Minister.”

“Maybe you should have a go.” The Doctor suggested.

“Me?” Harriet laughed. “Huh. I’m only a back-bencher.”

“I’d vote for you.” Rose encouraged.

“I can’t vote in this country.” I stated with a shrug. Penelope leapt out of my arms. “Crud. Not again.” I started making my way after her again.

Harriet shook her head. “Now, don’t be silly.” She looked off in the distance, seeing the police struggle to contain the people. “Look, I’d better go and see if I can help. Hang on!” Harriet climbed over the rubble, making her way to the street. “We’re safe! The Earth is safe!”

Penelope somehow ended up back on the ground, me chasing after her. Before long Rose and the Doctor were behind me, snickering at my expense. I glared at them, though not too angrily. It had to be pretty funny to look at.

I was able to guide Penelope back to the street. She calmed down once I knelt by her side, cuddling her close to my chest. My double heartbeats must’ve been soothing to her.

“I thought I knew the name.” The Doctor said, coming up beside me. I looked up at him, taking the time to fix my headband. “Harriet Jones, future Prime Minister. Elected for three successive terms. The architect of Britain’s Golden Age.”

Penelope broke away again, suddenly squealing in fear. She ran back towards the rubble. “Story damn.” I grumbled, chasing after her. “Be right back!” I said to the Doctor and Rose.

She paused near a metal sewer hole. She continued squealing, running around the metal cover like she was hoping to jump down and hide.

“Penelope, what’s gotten into you?” I asked, trying to think of the best way to grab my pig without scaring her. “Is this some PTSD thing from the explosion? Oh Story, are you reliving the crash?”

“Good idea, but I think she’s reacting to _ me. _ ”

That was the last thing I remembered. Logan shoved a rag over my mouth. I almost screamed out for the Doctor, but fell into darkness.

 

==CON==

 

Garfield lowered the girl against the TARDIS, her pig fearfully curled up beside her. Jackie hadn’t notice him leave, too concerned her daughter would blow up inside Downing Street. No one noticed him creep up behind Terra, or place the rag over her mouth. Not that almighty Doctor, or those humans. Garfield even felt a little brave, taking the pig with him.

Terra looked so peaceful, like she wasn’t a breadths away from her most hated enemy. He almost took a picture to remember the occasion forever. Who knows, maybe he should. He could just send it to her when she felt at her safest...

No. The idea of never fully knowing what happened here would be enough to drive her to madness. Ya know, if she wasn’t there already.

There was a flash just a few feet behind the TARDIS, followed by the sounds of an angry hiss.

Garfield grinned, shaking his head faintly. “Well, if it isn’t the little girl scout of the Galaxy.” He turned slowly to face them, black eyes full of condescension. “Where’d your friends go? Did you end up killing them too?”

There was a girl at the end of the alley, seventeen maybe eighteen years old. Her hair straight as a blade and dark as ink, the only imperfection on her olive skin was a two inch curved scar just below her hairline. She was wearing a blood red halter top, black jeans, and blood red converse. Around her waist was a thick purple belt, with the buckle being just a symbol of an open blue book.

The girl glared her mystical purple eyes, hand reaching for the blade she had on her belt. “I’m not a  _ girl scout _ , I’m a  _ Guardian _ .” She corrected. She looked young, but there was a warning in her words that Logan better not push her today. “And it’s Gamora to you.”

He snorted. “Still role playing, I see.”

“Still delusional, I see.” Gamora squared her shoulders. “What did you do to my sister?”

“Sorry?” He feigned innocence. “I found her like this. Poor thing, must be so exhausted.”

Purple eyes sharpened in a glare. Gamora pulled out the blade, pointing it in his direction. “Why is she unconscious? You should be half way across the cosmos by now with her. What did you do to her?” Logan didn’t answer, only grinned. “You better tell me, asshole, or I’ll make the Slitheen look merciful.”

The dark man stuffed his hands in his pockets, taking a few steps closer. “I don’t want her.”

Gamora snorted. “Yeah, and I’m from  _ Tivoli _ .”

“Oh careful, you used a big word.” Logan taunted. “I wouldn’t go swimming for another half-”

Gamora pulled him forward, then slammed him hard against a nearby wall. Penelope squealed in fear, running around the TARDIS. “Quit it with your jokes, and tell me what you did! You’re both supposed to end at the Falls, but that doesn’t mean  _ you _ have to be whole!”

Logan wasn’t affected by her taunts, making Gamora growl.

“If I can make a Dalek beg for mercy, what do you think I could do to you?” She warned, a murderous look in her eyes.

“Gamora. Release.” A male voice said from behind them.

The girl didn’t listen, her face twisted into a snarl. “No! You heard him, he did something to Terra! We need to know what!”

A light skinned man with short black hair and blue eyes walked closer. He was dressed in a black long sleeved shirt, black cargo pants, and a bright blue belt with the same blue book buckle as Gamora’s.

“Mora, let him go.” He warned. Logan grinned, smug. “He’s not worth it.”

“I figured you’d be happier about this, Drax.” Gamora grumbled, backing away from Logan. “Why do you think I called you and not Groot?”

“Yes, I’m wondering that as well.” Logan said, talking easily. He didn’t care that these were two of the people on a team specifically made to hunt him through time and space and kill him. The other man, Drax, stared impassively. “Guess you don’t care about her as much as I do.”

The man, instead of attacking, smirked. “It won’t kill her, Gamora. He’s not at the point in his timeline where he can go to the Falls. We have to leave him here.”

“Bullshit!”

“And besides, he already teleported out.” Drax said, walking away to sit by the unconscious Terra’s side.

Gamora turned back, not seeing anything but faintly smelling the burnt sparks left behind from a teleport bracelet. “Storyline damn it.” She mumbled. “Storyline damn it!” She snapped her head at Drax. “What the hell Drax?! I had him! I _ totally _ had him!”

“Why did he come after her?” Drax asked.

“Cause she was sitting under a spotlight.” Gamora spat. “He saw a chance and took it.”

“Yeah, but Mora, this is  _ Garfield Logan _ .” Drax stressed. He stood up, looking Gamora in the eyes. “The man’s been here for over a year, had Terra right in his grasp to do whatever he wants, and he leaves her behind? Why?”

“He’s a nutjob.” Gamora said.

“Why would you have done it?” Drax decided that was the easier path. Takes one to know one, as the saying goes.

Gamora rolled her purple eyes. She hated when they just used her for that, like that was her only quality. She was more than a serial killer. She was Terra Johnson’s only sister, she was the Red Plague, the Foster parent killer, the warrior goddess of the Sontaran race, she had been one of the most acclaimed French painted ladies of the 17th century. She had beaten Terra Johnson in a slap bet, once.

“The waiting was to boost his own ego. The longer he waited, the stronger he felt.” Gamora droned, bored. “He probably used it to make some connections with Rose’s family, so they would let their guards down around him. More showing off.” She sighed. “There. He’s being his usual arrogant self. That enough for you?”

Drax gave her a look. Penelope just oinked, disbelieving herself.

“ _ Fine _ .” She groaned, closing her eyes in concentration. “I have Terra all alone, everyone’s busy surviving World War Three. They don’t notice her gone until too late. I can leave with her.”

“Except she’s right here.” Drax pointed at the Time Lady. The pig pushed her head under the girl’s hand, saddened that the girl still hadn’t woken up. “Perfectly safe. You missed the obvious.”

“Hey.” Gamora warned, pointing a finger at him. “Watch it.” Drax held his arms up, leaning back against the TARDIS. “So, he has her to himself. He has to know we’re close to him, to taking him down. He has to do something clever to get out.” She paused. “Or stupid, like give Terra up.”

“Confuse us.” Drax added.

“Make us spin around circles, not getting to the point until it’s too late.” Gamora slowly realized it. “This wasn’t to get to Terra, it was to get to us. No matter how fast we were today, we couldn’t have gotten there in time.”

“You said it yourself.” Drax said, grinning. “Garfield could’ve been halfway across the cosmos with her by now.”

“He was telling us he could take her again at any point, and we’d never know until it was too late.” Gamora slapped her forehead at her own stupidity. That had taken too long to figure out. “He’s arrogant,  _ and _ showing off. Like I said.”

“And what does your sister say every bad guy does when showing off?” Drax asked, still grinning.

“Make mistakes.” Gamora said, starting to grin herself.

“We can trace that teleport, right?” Drax asked, though his tone said he already had the answer. 

Gamora nodded. “You bet your ass we can.” She held out her cellphone, typing in a set of coordinates.

Drax lifted Penelope up, only making the pig kick and squeal at him. “Hey, Penelope, relax. It’s me, Drax.” He looked up at Gamora. “Did she name her after Garcia?”

Gamora snorted. “No. That was a totally different universe.” Drax nodded, struggling to keep ahold of the pig. “It’s Penelope Wilhern, from that movie where a girl has a pig nose.”

Drax still couldn’t hold the pig.

“Here. I still smell like Terra.” Gamora came up, brushing down on Penelope’s ear. “We’re Terra’s friends. We’ll take you to her.”

Once they blinked out of existence, Terra starting waking up.

 

==CON==

 

I woke up against the TARDIS, her warm wood humming harshly against my back. “I’m up, I’m up.” I grumbled, petting her graffitied side. “Dial it down.”

Wait...how did I get here? I was at 10 Downing Street, with the Doctor, Rose, Penelope and Harriet. The five of us had missed being blown up, and then...then.

LOGAN!

My hand reached out, trying to wrap around my bag and Penelope. There was a pause in my heartbeats was I found nothing but air where Penelope had been. 

_ ‘No...not Penelope no...’ _

I pulled out my cellphone, typing the first number I knew to call. She answered after two rings.  _ “Anderson hotline. Who wants a piece?” _

“He found me, didn’t he?” I asked. Silence. “Oh Story, what did he do to Penelope?”

_ “Yellow shit. Relax-” _

“Purple. Never say that again. What did he do?” I was panicking, of course. My sister didn’t answer me. “Five, four-”

_ “He used you as bait to trick me into coming for you, so that he could show off how awesome he is at being a dickhead.” _ Darcy explained with a sigh.  _ “We’re tracing him now, so calm your tits.” _

“You’re swearing a lot. You never said what happened to Penelope!” I barked. “Hold on.  _ We _ ?”

_ “I’m in a sweary mood.” _ Darcy stated. _ “Penelope’s with me. I picked her up after seeing her with you, figured you’d appreciate it. Anyway, gotta split.” _

“Who’s with you, Darcy? If it’s Torchwood-”

_ “Hasta luego!” _ Darcy said before hanging up the phone.

I grunted in slight anger. That girl was a pain! Why wouldn’t she tell me who she was with? It could be a future companion, like River or Jack. They were the most likely candidates for tracing a teleport, but it didn’t completely fit. Darcy didn’t get along with people who tried placing her under their authority, me as the only exception because I was her elder twin. She wouldn’t have gone with the Doctor because if she got the Doctor involved with Logan than I would have killed her, twice.

If it was Jack, they would be handcuffed to a bed or she would be in their cells. River Song, I would be looking at Logan’s corpse now. Darcy was like a cat sometimes, laying out the body of her prey in front of me. 

Who else was there with the technical sophistication to track a teleport across time and space?

Maybe it was me. I did have a lot of experience, and I would have understood more about Time and Space tracking in the future. No, then Darcy wouldn’t have avoided the subject.

I shook my head, pulling the journal out. Could there be a clue? I never really went past the page of  _ 30 Days of Night _ . It had been too difficult work past, whether in journal or in life.

Poor joke, but humor relieves stress.

The next page had an apology. My future self knew how painful 30 Days Of Night was. She said I would have to talk about it soon, to save the Doctor from himself.

It went on to say that I had to tell him about the Johnson-Luna’s, but I couldn’t tell him Logan had been near Rose as my expert. That hadn’t surprised me, though it really should have. No wonder she had been so wary of me after her research, she’d found an expert.

Future Me went on to explain, from her memory, what happened to the Johnson-Luna family. 

 

==CON==

 

The journal was stuffed back in my bag, not seeing much point in leaving it out.

I was prone on the side of the TARDIS, I absentmindedly noticed it was the side with BAD WOLF. There was the message over my head.

Does it end up being me? Logan had said in his first note I was like wolves, was that the first sign? Well, Gwyneth hadn’t said  _ the big bad wolf  _ to me. What did this mean? It obviously still happens. Will it happen to Rose or to me? Do I take the Vortex in or does Rose?

I knew why I was thinking about that. Either think about my future, or think about One’s past. She’s out there right now, with her family, and no idea of what I did to them.

“Terra!” Rose called out, sounding concerned.

I didn’t move from my prone position.

She ran up to me, lowering to her knees to hug me. I tensed under the hug, wary about the blonde being so close. “We couldn’t find ya. I thought you’d have left us.”

The Doctor was a few yards behind her, arms crossed over his chest. His expression was either Time Lord apathy or  _ ‘you better start explaining’ _ . It could be either, or both.

I didn’t respond to Rose’s worried explanation. My mind was a jumbled mess of stuff from my journal read.

Rose ended the hug, my body not relaxing back. She smiled at the Doctor. “Don’t let his face fool you. He was worried about you, too. Where’s Penelope? She wasn’t with us. Is she at your home?”

“I don’t have one.” I said, my voice detached and cold.

The change made Rose reel back. “What did you say?” She asked, her voice soft.

“I had a Mom, a Mum, and an aunt.” My voice remained cold, explaining what I read in my journal. “Mom was the American one, and Mum was the British one. Kept it straight in my head.”

Rose was shocked, but listened to my every word. She kneeled down, sitting on her legs. The Doctor walked up behind her, blue eyes softer than before.

“House invasion. A month ago.” I went on, feeling a weight over my hearts as I spoke. “I found them. I was surprising them by coming home early. Then they were...they were just gone. It was too late.”

The Johnson-Luna’s were found in their home. The sister of the late Leanna, Chloe Johnson, was with them. They had died protecting me from hostile forces. Chloe worked with Torchwood One (later Three) so I would stay a secret. Thelma worked at my school in London so I wouldn’t be left completely alone. Leanna worked in the police force, apparently that was how she found me.

Future Me explained that Logan had targeted them because of my connection to him. It had been near the end of his timeline, so he was grasping at straws. He killed our family, kidnapping my first self when she had come home for a visit from Uni.

He had me in there for a long time. He had hoped of turning me docile, groomed to him and his preferences. As an old work colleague said:  _ ‘You didn’t want a wife. You wanted a puppy.’  _ Once he saw I was ready, he stabbed me to have me die a slow painful death. Time Lords took a long time to die, apparently.

That was when Future Me landed with Eleven and Oswin. When Logan saw he had a chance with an older version he knew he had won, all he had to do was activate the grooming a he put in place with One. Then Four would have been his.

That was why I was at the Reichenbach Falls Warehouse. That was why I had regenerated into Two. That was why everyone had been so worried about Logan finding us.

Terra had sacrificed herself in the end. She couldn’t risk Logan having me, as we had a job to do.  _ The woods are lovely, dark and deep, but I have promises to keep, and miles to go before I can sleep. _

They all died because of me. They all died because of my actions. The Johnson-Lunas gave their lives protecting me, my first faces gave their’s to get me to the right time. I ruined a perfectly happy family because of...because I did something so bad on Gallifrey they must have wiped my mind and banished me to Earth or something.

Future Me threw in a note, saying she was proud I saved Penelope.  _ Save one life, save the world _ and all that jazz.

“Your family died.” Rose said. She brushed some of her blonde hair back, keeping her expressive brown eyes on mine. “And you never said.”

“Nobody wants to listen to me complain about my life.” I said, shifting nervously in my small hiding spot. “Other’s out there have it worse than I do. Look at Doc, he lost his whole planet. The living plastic did too, and so did the Gelth. Gwyneth’s life was a mess. You said earlier you didn’t get A-Levels, and I blew up your job. I have it off  _ easy _ . What right do I have to complain?” I shrugged, trying not to think too much about the destruction I’ve caused.

Rose seemed horrified at my words. “Complain? They’re your  _ family _ . Talking about them isn’t the same as complaining.” She almost chided. “No one would think anything less of you for it.”

I snorted. “Yeah, and then I can go skipping through a rainbow forest with unicorns.” My hands stuffed themselves into the hoodie’s pocket, to keep them from fidgeting. “My problems are mine. No one else cares but me. My own family wouldn’t listen to me, so why should complete strangers?”

“So, you’re alone?” The Doctor suddenly said.

I looked at him, frowning. I wanted to tell him about me. That I wasn’t alone because we were both Time Lords. I wanted to stop the Time Lord trick the notebook taught me. But, I just couldn’t.

Then I remembered. I’m Morgan Spencer, a Jumper. Dances across the universes, always running to the next one. I see the future of everyone, and can tell you how their story ends and how it begins. Only I knew, and only I did something about it. Just me, myself, and I. My sister was close, so close, but not enough. She couldn’t do it on her own. No one else like me.

No one but me. I was either the First, or the Last.

_ ‘Both are equally terrifying.’ _ I thought.

“Yeah.” I said, finally remembering what the Doctor asked. “It’s...cool. I’m fine.”

The Doctor accepted it, but it was hesitant. I could tell.

I looked up at Rose, suddenly remembering her other question. “I had a friend come get Penelope. They’re at her house, I think. Hard to say if she actually  _ has _ a house now.”

The turn in topics didn’t do anything to stop the sad look in Rose’s eyes, or the one of empathy in the Doctor’s. 

 

==CON==

 

Some time later, Rose had gone up to her apartment to see her mother. The Doctor and I were sitting around the console room, me reaching for the lollipop necklace around my neck. It was calming, but also reminding me I should call Darcy to see if she had a house.

Terra’s text: Do you own a house here?

It wasn’t long before she texted back.

Darcy’s text: Define ‘own’?

Of course, not two seconds later, I get these.

Darcy’s text: Define ‘house’?

Darcy’s text: Define ‘here’?

Darcy’s text: Define ‘you’?

Darcy’s text: Define ‘?’ ?

I rolled my eyes. That girl...

Terra’s text: Where is my pig sleeping at night?

“You said you witnessed Logan do something.” The Doctor said suddenly. I tensed up, not looking the Time Lord’s direction. “It was your family’s murder, wasn’t it? You didn’t find them. You saw him kill them.”

“Yes.” Was my reply after a short pause. My voice came out a soft whisper.

“You didn’t tell Rose that.” The Doctor said.

“She’s too-” I cut myself off, shifting nervously.

The Doctor looked at me, understanding. “She’s too good.”

I nodded.

My phone pinged with a text.

Darcy’s text: Is that what we call your boyfriend now?

Terra’s text: Boyfriend?

Darcy’s text: Right. You’re single AF.

I snorted. The Doctor grabbed the TARDIS phone, dialing for Rose.

Terra’s text: And proud. Where’s Penelope?

Darcy’s text: Oh! The Penelope Wilhern Pig! She’s at your palace.

Terra’s text: place*

Darcy’s text: (rolling eyes) go to hell

“Right, I’ll be a couple of hours, then we can go.” The Doctor said to Rose. He scoffed. “You think I can travel through space and time and I haven’t got a phone?”

“Ha!” I commented, looking down at Darcy’s text. “You think you can drive.”

“Oh hush you.” The Doctor said, before getting back to his call. “Like I said, couple of hours. I’ve just got to send out this dispersal.” He flipped a switch on the console. “There you go. That’s cancelling out the Slitheen’s advert in case any bargain hunters turn up.”

Darcy’s text: You still there?

Terra’s text: Where the hell is my pig?

Darcy’s text: Damn. Thought ya left

“Good. Put her on a slow heat and let her simmer.” The Doctor replied to Rose. Woah, I wished I could hear her side. I mean, I know I could remember it from the show, but still. “I don’t do that.”

He walked over to the pilot seat, making me quirk an eyebrow at him. He was pushing his luck, I’m surprised Rose didn’t come drag him there by his giant ears.

Terra’s text: You got five seconds before I do something bad to you.

Darcy’s text: What? No description on the threat?

Terra’s text: I’m scarier when I make it vague.

“Tough. I’ve got better things to do.” The Doctor argued with Rose. “Not to me it isn’t.” He walked back to the monitor, making me grin. 

Darcy’s text: She’s at your house like I said. She’s happy with her pig food. Chill.

The Doctor “Well, she’s not mine.”

Terra’s text: When has chill ever worked on me?

Darcy’s text: Fuck

“Well, you can stay there if you want, but right now there’s this plasma storm brewing in the Horsehead Nebula.” The Time Lord tempted Rose, and man was I getting excited now. “Fires are burning ten million miles wide. I could fly the TARDIS right into the heart of it, then Terra and I can ride the shock wave all the way out. Hurtle right across the sky and end up anywhere. Your choice.” He let the statement hang in there air, then he hung up the phone.

_ ‘The lengths an introvert will go to avoid people.’  _ I thought.  _ ‘Or to avoid Jackie’s slaps.’ _

Darcy’s text: Hate ya bitch ;)

Terra’s text: Hate gives me power, witch ;)

 

==CON==

 

I ruffled the boy’s hair. “Now, what have we learned today?” I asked him.

“Never paint the same place twice.” The boy, named Greg, grumbled.

I lightly tapped his cheek. “Good boy. Never touch this box with paint again. Now, beat it.”

The boy did, taking his cleaning supplies with him. I’d found him just some twenty minutes ago, coming back to see his tag on the box. He even had the spray paint in his hand to add more! I gave him a talking to, then made him clean up her side. I know she’d just clean herself when we left, but I just really needed to be in control of something for a minute.

I was a control freak now, terrific.

The Doctor walked out of the TARDIS, over to Mickey. I placed my hand against her warm wood, not daring to walk farther away. Mickey was sitting on a post, a newspaper in his hand. “I just went down the shop, and I was thinking, you know, like the whole world’s changed.” He explained to the Doctor. I went to leaning against the doors, like the Doctor did some days ago. “Aliens and spaceships all in public. And here it is.”

The newspaper said ‘Alien Hoax?’ in big white letters. I smiled at the human’s race’s horrid ability to cover things up. Or who knows, maybe that was UNIT, or even Torchwood. Again, it could’ve just been the newspaper itself.

“How could they do that? They saw it.” Mickey asked him.

“They’re just not ready.” The Doctor explained. “You’re happy to believe in something that’s invisible, but if it’s staring you in the face, _ ‘nope, can’t see it’ _ .”

“There’s a scientific explanation for that.” I called out to them. The boys turned to me, and I smirked. “You’re all idiots!”

Mickey laughed. The Doctor too. “We’re just idiots.” Mickey said, with a bit of teasing in there.

“Well, not all of you.” The Doctor said meaningfully.

“Yeah?” Mickey brightened at hearing he may not be an idiot.

“Present for you, Mickey.” He handed Mickey the CD. “That’s a virus. Put it online. It’ll destroy every mention of me. I’ll cease to exist.” He glanced over at me. I gave him a meaningful look back.

I didn’t want to be erased from history, not that I really could. I had a lot of stuff not even the Doctor could know was me.

“What do you want to do that for?” The hacker asked.

“Because you’re right, I am dangerous. I don’t want anybody following me.”

Jackie and Rose came out from the Estates. Rose was wearing a heavy backpack, looking extremely full. That’s why I had this bag, everything I need and more with bigger on the inside magic.

“How can you say that and then take them with you?” Mickey asked.

“Hey. Leave me out of it!” I warned him, pointing a finger.

“You could look after them.” I rolled my eyes, pressing my back against the door. “Come with us.”

“I can’t. This life the two of you have, it’s just too much. I couldn’t do it.” He fearfully glanced at the approaching Rose. “Don’t tell her I said that.”

The Doctor and I smiled at him. 

“I’ll get a proper job. I’ll work weekends. I’ll pass my test, and if Jim comes round again, I’ll say no. I really will.” Jackie pleaded. 

“I’m not leaving because of you.” The companion said, reaching for her mother’s hand. The Doctor walked up beside me, though I was still safe alongside the TARDIS. “I’m travelling, that’s all, and then I’ll come back.”

“But it’s not safe.” Jackie grasped at straws.

Rose sighed, shaking her head. “Mum, if you saw it out there you’d never stay home.”

She turned to the Doctor, pushing her bag into his arms. 

“Got enough stuff?”

“Last time I stepped in there, it was spur of the moment. Now I’m signing up. You’re stuck with me.” Rose laughed victoriously. She walked over to Mickey.

The Doctor gave the backpack to me. I grunted, struggling to keep it from falling. “Come with us. There’s plenty of room.” Rose offered. 

I put down her backpack against the TARDIS. No way was I gonna hold that thing. My hands went back into my hoodie pocket. 

“No chance.” The Doctor said. “He’s a liability, I’m not having him on board.”

“We’d be dead without him.” Rose reminded him.

“My decision is final.” The Doctor said. I grinned.

Rose turned to her ex, shrugging. “Sorry.” She kissed him.

“Good luck, yeah.” He encouraged.

Jackie whirled over to the Doctor and I. “You still can’t promise me. What if she gets lost? What if something happens to you, Doctor, and the two of them are left all alone standing on some moon a million light years away.” Jackie threw a worried glance at me. “How long do I wait then?”

Her daughter pulled her back. “Mum, you’re forgetting. It’s a time machine.” Rose explained. “I could go travelling around suns and planets and all the way out to the edge of the universe, and by the time I get back, yeah, ten seconds would have passed. Just ten seconds. So stop worrying. See you in ten seconds’ time, yeah?”

The two hugged. I quickly used my key to open the door, letting Rose’s bag drop to the metal ground. I dragged it further into the console room, hearing the Doctor’s heavy footsteps behind me.

Rose hopped into the TARDIS, missing her mother’s sad frown. She grabbed her bag, smiling as she rested it against the railings closer to the console.

“Alright, so are are we going to that plasma storm thing?” Rose asked the Doctor, excited.

“It sounds pretty terrific.” I said, leaning against the pilot seat.

The Doctor flipped a switch on the console. “Course it is. But, there’s something else we need to do first.”

“Establish ground rules, you’re right.” I interjected, walking up to Rose’s side. “Let’s be frank, Rose. Mr. Magoo over there can’t drive to save his life.”

“Oi! I was driving her perfectly fine earlier!” The Doctor defended himself. It only made Rose laugh.

I sneered at him, jokingly. “Into a  _ closet _ . Hitting her with a _ hammer. _ ” I turned to Rose. “You should start coming to me if he gets ideas. I can say if they’re good ones or not.”

Rose laughed, thinking I wasn’t serious.

The Last of the Almighty Time Lords sneered at me, adding in a smirk like he had just won some argument between us in his head.

“If you’re gonna be staying here, Rose, you need a bedroom. You too, Terra.” The Doctor agreed, he motioned to the back of the TARDIS console room. “Just follow the blinking lights. The TARDIS will show you the way.”

Rose smiled that tongue-on-tooth grin. She lightly bumped my arm. “Terra, is he right?”

I snorted. The Doctor shook his head at us, smirking. “They can’t  _ all _ be bad ideas.” I held my bag tighter to me, walking towards the back of the TARDIS. Rose followed behind me.


	8. 221b Baker Street

**Spoilers to** **_Lilo and Stitch_ ** **. Be prepared for feels and whump.**

==CON==

==CON==

 

The TARDIS had guided Rose and I along to our new bedrooms in the same stretch of hallway. It was close to the door to the back of the console room. Rose had her room across from mine, so I guess that’s a plus. It had some Gallifreyan circles at eye level, but a little bronze (or what I assumed was bronze) translated name plate beneath them.

I will admit, it was always an ego boost to see my name in bronze. It had one of those cool sliding doors that disappear into the wall, so I slide my door open.

My jaw dropped, staring at the room in awe. The door closed behind me as I walked in, almost making me feel cut off from the _ Whoniverse _ . It wasn’t too big, or too weird. It was just a sucker punch to the gut.

When I was in my mid-twenties, I had been kidnapped and trapped by a guy named Tobias Hankel. Needless to say, I went somewhere Disney to stop the nightmares. Like when you watch Disney princess movies after a horror movie. It was an effect method. I didn’t go to Disney princess movies, no, that was in my forties. Twenties, I went to  _ Lilo and Stitch. _

Through a strange set of circumstances, I ended up being the adopted child of Jumba Jookiba. It was perfect, better than. Though mentally at age twenty-seven, I had the body of a six year old. I was reliving my childhood, but with less bullies and more aliens. Jumba (Or Pops, as I later called him) taught me how to make crop circles, and gave me my knack for tinkering. I even learned some genetic sciences from under him, as he was always open to share. I was proud to call him Pops.

Then, a few months after I celebrated a whole decade linear with them, I died. Stabbed, right where the X now rested on my stomach. It was the first time I’d ever been fatally wounded, and it caused a whole new set of nightmares. Even more so when I found out I’d go through puberty all over again.

This room was just like my room in that old house. It had sky blue walls, absent of all of my blueprints or ideas for new robots, and the floor was tan carpet bare of any clothes or shoes. On the wall to my right was my bed, at it’s end was a wooden wardrobe. Straight across from the door was where the window had been, the curtain had usually been drawn so I couldn’t see the jungle just outside my room. The wall on my left I had a big wooden desk with a black cushioned chair, with a stack of blank notebook papers and a pencil holder filled with black pens. Where the window had been was now a cork board, with a small bowl of pushpins beside it. The breeze was made by a fan overhead, plain white wood but with pale yellow star shaped pull switches. The ceiling was midnight blue, with some of my favorite constellations in what looked like glow-in-the-dark stars. Virgo, Gemini, Orion, Big Dipper, and Sirius. There was a one random one that was completely unknown to me, so it must be one in this universe.

My bed was made, the black cover pulled over the blue pillow and blue sheets, if it was an exact copy of the old room. It was something that I hadn’t seen the ten years I had that bed. It was a bunk bed with silver metal frames, a thing I had requested after adopting my own experiment. He ended up sleeping on the bottom bunk, because he apparently liked it. I was cool, because that meant I got to climb up a ladder.

The room still felt the same, like I had left for college and came back home. I walked over to the desk, tossing my bag onto my bunk.  I inhaled, smelling green apple and peppermint. Not my favorites, but this body seemed to love them. With a heavy heart, I sunk into the cushioned chair. It was a nice chair, comfy. I could see myself working for hours on Planning or sketching new designs. I glanced to the right, noticing a bookcase that I could have sworn wasn’t there a second ago.

It was made of mahogany wood, and even though I had just moved in it was full of stuff. Hopping out of the chair, I went over to look at what the TARDIS had gifted me with. It had to be why I couldn’t see the bookcase when I walked in.

The bookcase was about a foot taller than me, so that I could touch the top if I stood on my tiptoes. The top three shelves were packed with books, ones that looked vaguely familiar. I pulled a random book out, realizing why they were familiar. These were all books I had Jumped too, and a few I planned on going to later.

I skimmed through the pages of the book in my hand,  _ The Brazen Spindle _ , using the Time Lady biology to read through it like a bullet. What had been so important about the books that the TARDIS felt the need to share? I was still keeping them, but why give me all of the extra copies? When I reached the end of my book, I realized why.

For the longest time, I’d had this theory that in the other worlds I Jumped to that you could see the other places I changed. Like, if I went to  _ Criminal Minds _ I could watch the  _ Doctor Who _ episodes with me in them. The theory had always been on the back of my mind, since I was 65 and found out about the multiverse theory. I’d always been too busy to go and check for it, and eventually the theory was considered to be a little fantasy.

Seeing these books proved me right. I could relive the glory days, maybe even see where I went wrong on some of the more bad ones. Of course, I had to look at some of them right away. It would be the only way I could keep from screwing up a movie reference. Also, because I really wanted to have more than just my memories.

“Thanks Idris.” I said, putting the book back in it’s place. The ceiling hummed, which I assumed was her reply.

I checked the next three shelves, taking notice that the bottom one was filled with a big stereo. It was something by Sony, so I guess that’s good.

They weren’t books. The first shelf had DVDs of various movies and shows I had jumped in.  _ 30 Days _ was thankfully absent. There was one,  _ Guardians of the Galaxy,  _ that sounded vaguely familiar. The bottom shelf had something that made me grin.

“Music.” I said, my hand roaming over the twenty or so CD’s. That was what the big stereo on the bottom shelf was for, so I could play all of the music I wanted. “This is  _ awesome _ .”

So, I pulled out an  _ Imagine Dragons  _ CD, and popped it in the stereo. I was able to climb up into my bunk before the music filled the room. 

_ ‘I’m waking up to ash and dust. I wipe my brow and I sweat my rust. I’m breathing in the chemicals.’ _

I gasped in turn with the music, feeling the hours of stress melt away as I exhaled.

 

==CON==

 

_ ‘It don’t mean a thing without my Carolina Rose.’ _

It had been a little over three hours since I first walked into my room. I changed the CD on occasion, mostly because I wanted to try all the music I could. The genres were pretty diverse, going from bands like  _ Imagine Dragons, the Script _ , and  _ Daughtry _ , to more country artists like  _ Gloriana, Little Big Town, _ and  _ Hunter Hayes. _ There was one Barbie CD, which was just a compilation of all the songs from her movies. What? Barbie was a guilty pleasure.

Anyway, with the new song fading away, I turned off the stereo. My bag had been unpacked of the clothes I purchased, and I hoped the TARDIS would be able to give me more as time went on. I glanced over at the other bunk, the one that was bare of anything other than a spare pillow and beige blanket. That was where my experiment had slept, the one Pops had made for me. No, really, the one he made for me.

I was only six, but really I was twenty-nine. It had been just over a year and a half since I had met the alien bunch. The last movie in the Stitch franchise, as I’m sure you are aware, was  _ Leroy and Stitch. _ Pops and I had ended up in his old laboratory, which had seemed perfect at the time. I was at the centre of all of the damage, there had to be something I could’ve done to help.

Pops had already began working on Leroy (628) when Hämsterviel and Gantu broke into the lab. I didn’t know this until later, but that was irrelevant to the story. Hämsterviel had threatened me, aiming one of the laser guns at me, to convince Pops to finish 628 to Hämsterviel’s design. Pops agreed, not wanting to risk me.

It was hours later when I found out the truth. We were in the stadium, hundreds of Leroy clones fighting experiments. Hämsterviel was about to blast me with one of the those plasma guns. I screamed, as six year olds are known to do, and Leroy had abandoned his fight to save me.

Then, came all of his clones. Pops explained that he  _ had _ installed the Elvis virus (as I called it) to destabilize the other clones, but he installed it with the same programing as Hämsterviel’s control. Leroy broke out of that after saving me, so he would be unaffected.

The next day, once the Alohapalooza party was done and the clones were gone, we welcomed Leroy into our ohana. He only asked we call him Hero from then on.

That was when I had the bunk bed installed, that was when I adopted my own experiment, that was when I decided to stay in Hawaii beyond the finale.

Until fate played her hand, and I died.

I shoved those thoughts away, resisting the temptation to rest my hand over the overlapping scars. It was useless to cry over it now, I’d died over a hundred years ago. It was a waste of time.

_ ‘Ohana means family.’ _ A familiar little girl’s voice drifted into my mind.  _ ‘Family means no one get left behind, or forgotten.’ _

My eyes glared up at the TARDIS. Had she plucked that thought from one of my more distant memories, or was it from this universe’s version of the movie?

She hummed again, this time sending a wave of emotion into my mind. It felt almost like assurance, or maybe scolding.

“I know not to forget them.” I said, pushing myself onto my feet. “I got a quote for you too,  _ I remember everyone that leaves.’ _ ”

Picking my bag up from my bunk, I walked over to the door to find it had vanished. I sighed, giving blank wall a look saying it was being childish. The TARDIS sent another wave in my mind, a smart ass comment.

“I’m the one that leaves, yeah I know.” My right hand grasped the bag strap, the other pushed into my hoodie pocket. “There’s almost nothing I can do about that, Idris. I’m  _ dead _ there. Once I die, I can’t go back to that world. There’s no way back to them. The only exceptions are worlds known for ghosts, and even then it’s a stretch.”

She hummed at me again.

I almost shouted at her, until I glanced at Hero’s bunk. He’s been ohana for ten years, like a little brother I actually liked and that liked me. We were a lot alike, enough that I had constantly wondered if Pops had done some weird alien scan of my brain to see what I really liked.

Hero. He’d probably have some dry, sarcastic comment on all of this. Nine was a lot like him, except Hero said it in an alien language so only a select few could hear and understand the joke.

Hero didn’t know it at the time, but he helped make me into a better person. He helped me grow up. I was more comfortable with who I was after those years in Hawaii, more self aware. Then I left them behind...Hero, behind. I remembered the last time I ever saw him...

“Sorry.” I said, nearly bursting out in tears. “I’m sorry, Hero.”

It all came back to me, sending me to my knees, all the people I’ve lost here. The Johnsons, Eleven, Oswin, Clive, Moxx of Balhoon, Gwyneth, those officers, anyone the Slitheen had murdered for skin, Indra Ganesh, even the Slitheen that died because of the missile. They died because I didn’t do my job.

Yeah, they were the bad guys. That doesn’t mean their deaths meant any less than Gwyneth’s. They were a family, they had family out there, and they would be mourned. Blon lost her family today, and she could only save herself.

The Leroy clones were all dead, they didn’t know any better. They were just doing what they were programmed to. How could they know it was the wrong thing?

Hero was gone. I’d left him alone. I died in front of him, and he has to think I’m gone forever. He doesn’t know I’m still breathing hundreds of realities away.

The crying went on for a few more minutes. My mind could recall all the little things I had done with Hero, and the others in my ohana. Meeting Lilo at hula class. Convincing Pops to pretend to be my father, in exchange for information on Lilo, seeing the paper making my adoption official. Hero realizing I was the place he belonged. Years of Pops helping me with school work. Pleakley convincing me to go dress shopping every year so they could set up a surprise party. Nani teaching me to bake, and put on make-up. Stitch, Lilo, and I playing in our treehouses. Pops helping me with a science project, only for me to end up creating an experiment of my own.

Seeing my first experiment, named Starburst, for the first time. She was so tiny, and looked vaguely like Angel. She was bright yellow, with bits of pink. She spoke in squirrel, which was difficult to reach to Hero. Her, Hero, and I watching  _ CSI _ before doing my homework. Starburst deciding that she could fly (even though she didn’t come with wings). Her five siblings, and each of them finding places in my heart.

What did they think happened to me? ‘ _ Was I ever coming home?’ ‘Did something happen?’ _ Did they keep themselves up at night, thinking over what could have happened? Did they have a search party go out into the woods to look for Hero and I? How long did it take for them to notice Hero and I hadn’t come home? Who was the first to notice?

I can already see their faces when they did. Lilo would want to start crying, but then she’d call every last experiment to come help. Stitch would be the same, minus the crying, he would’ve growled. Pops would be at the head. He may look like a teddy bear, but inside he was big and strong like a regular bear. Pleakley would keep things orderly, checking which parts of the forest they checked. Nani would stay with David at the house, in case I found my way home.

Story, now I was crying harder. They were never going to find us. We were both dead.

After that, I swore off getting attached to people. I never wanted to have that kind of pain. Waking up back Home, finding myself ten years old again and that everything I had done had been lost. It shattered my little heart, and I cried for weeks. It worked for a while, not letting anyone get close lest I lose them too. Two or three had gotten close, but something always ended up between us. It helped that no one at school wanted to talk to me, and my family was all wrapped up in their own lives to notice me.

That all changed when I met Darcy. She was only six, a six year old girl, and she had already lost so much. It’s never really hit her. She lost her home, her parents, and her innocence all in the span of ten minutes. She lost her trust in the world, the world that had called her crazy and childish. She was telling the truth, nearly getting electroshock treatments for her bravery. I had to go save her life, and getting across town while also being a six year old was shit.

I left her at her apartment, with the Dummy Parents of that universe. I didn’t know what had been done to her, what dark thoughts had made their way into her skull. An hour later, I came back to an apartment covered in more blood than Andy’s. Her parents were lying behind the couches, prone and lifeless. Darcy was still holding the largest knife in the kitchen, a purely innocent look in her now purple eyes. She didn’t know what was so wrong. She was more worried her eyes had changed from blue to purple than how she had just murdered her parents.

She was the first Dummy Family to ignore me. The rest would do what I said, when I said it, like robots. Darcy never had that. She had free will, and I loved that. Now, she was my little sister that drives me crazy.

That night, I opened myself up to her. I told her about what I was, what I do. I told her she was in a movie, and could be in any other movie she’d like. She had been onboard in an instant.

She was all of the Doctor’s companions rolled up in one, except for me. She was there for me after my darkest time, like Rose. She became my support when I had lost so much, like Martha. She is my best friend and family, like Donna and Amy. She is also very sexual like Jack and can never die, like Rory, and has the love of weapons like River. I don’t know how she’s like Clara for me, maybe that she keeps coming back from the dead and no one can really explain how.

Darcy Elizabeth Anderson. I’d ruined her life, and she loved me. I don’t know what I did to deserve such a terrific twin sister, but it must have been some kind of accident.

The TARDIS hummed in my mind. There weren’t emotions this time. It was more like just sending her presence, so I wasn’t alone. 

There was another five minutes of heavy crying before the tears came to a stop. It had been so long since I had a proper cry about them. The first few decades, I had to fight tears off any time I saw a Stitch toy, or a red stuffed animal, or heard that Hawaiian roller coaster song, or the Starburst candy. Even Hawaiian shirts burned my heart. I was almost a cd turf old when it stopped. I still hurt, just not as bad as before.

I sniffled, wiping my eyes with my hoodie sleeve. The heaviness that I hadn’t even noticed on my shoulders lessened, and clean air finally came back into my chest. The faint smell of green apples and peppermint lulled me into a state of ease.

“I’m alright, Idris.” I said, wiping away the last of the tears from my cheeks. “I know what you’re trying to say.”

This old room, the only place that ever truly felt like Home. The books and movies of places I’d been, with me in them. The desk and cork board, with supplies for Planning.

Idris wanted me to feel safe here. She wanted me to keep coming back, to know whatever happened that I had a home on the TARDIS. She was worried about her thief, about him being the Last Time Lord so he needed me. We needed each other. The last of our species, the only two people in the universe who would know how the other felt.

She wanted it to feel like I could stay, like I said when I first walk onboard.

More than that, she wanted to remind me working around aliens was a complete norm for me.

“Mind giving me my door back?” I asked, eyes still on what had been Hero’s bunk. Now I had an urge to wear plaid. Mahina (my pseudonym back on Hawaii) wore it a lot in her teenage years.

The door came back with a whoosh, probably from the door sliding open.

Now seemed like a good a time as any to go and see what the lovebirds were doing. It had to be better than just sitting in my room reflecting on the past.


	9. Dalek

It had been three weeks since  _ World War Three _ . Three weeks of constant alien invasions, and running for our lives. The Doctor had shown Rose and I so much of the galaxy already, taking us all over time and space for his own amusement. We went to the moon twice, saw shooting stars,  _ rode _ a shooting star, and I walked on a planet that was more of a bouncy castle than an actual planet.

On the nights when Rose was sleeping, and I was kept awake by my own biology, I explored more of the TARDIS. She had a TV room, that looked more like a theatre for a movie. She had a game room with any sort of game system I could think of, and even ones I couldn’t. Oh yeah, many a night I stayed up late playing old favorites and hoping the Doctor wouldn’t walk by. I watched this reality’s version of Harry Potter. You can’t have that many actors change to here, and not have a few oddities _. _ I hate the actor they replaced Barty Crouch Sr/Jr. For some reason, they switched out John Hurt. I wonder when I’ll see his character.

The TARDIS had a kitchen. She had a plate of a burgers and fries out waiting for me when I walked in, and an apple pie. It had been awhile since I had any of the greasy food this body craved. This body liked apple pies, but not as well as peaches. What was with stone Lords and apples? Of course, I didn’t eat that stuff every night. There were these weird alien foods Idris made for me. She even made a few of Pops’ dishes, including the tentacle one that tasted amazing. Idris really is the best.

Rose had mentioned a bowling alley, while the two of us were running from an octopus/frog hybrid alien. I think I also heard her mention the infamous swimming pool. It wasn’t in the library, though I guess we can’t have everything we want.

Darcy called on occasion, or I called her. She would talk about all the new things she’s done. It made me proud to hear her talk about how she saved a planet from space pirates. That, and what ‘ _ cool new weapon’ _ she ‘ _ maybe’ _ stole from the, and I quote, ‘ _ already dead asshole’ _ . I never got any closer to finding out who she worked with, which was making me nervous. I trust my sister, but it’s been my job to worry about her since her parents died.

It was just the two of us until she was right, that was when I caved. Darcy chose the first few places, such as  _ How I Met Your Mother _ and  _ Dexter _ . I took her to see  _ Phineas and Ferb _ , and somehow she ended up apprenticing under Doofenshmirtz. This doesn’t even cover the weirdness of what she did in  _ Pirates of the Caribbean _ .

Anyway. This all meant it had been two months since all of this started. Since I found out two groups of people died keeping me safe. I was on edge, waiting for the episode  _ Dalek _ to start. The episode was one that hit close to home, now just because it was when we found out the Doctor was the last Time Lord, but because I realized I empathized with a  _ Dalek _ .

_ ‘...that thing will kill every last thing on this planet!’ _

_ ‘They torture me, but they still fear me.’ _

_ ‘They’re all dead because of you!’ _

_ ‘I never thought I’d see the sunlight again.’ _

_ ‘That thing killed hundreds of people.’ _

_ ‘That thing down there is going to kill every last one of us!’ _

_ ‘...and all that time it was screaming. It must have gone insane...’ _

You’ve heard bits and pieces of it,  _ 30 Days Of Night _ . I was going through a phase, dark clothes dark nails, the shebang. I was staying up late so I could watch the good horror movies. Stuff like  _ The Shining _ ,  _ Nightmare on Elm Street, _ and  _ Saw _ .

It was good. A few times, I ended up Jumping there just so I could feed my hero complex. Story, what an idiot I was. I was in over my head.

Then one night, a week before I turned thirteen on Earth, I saw  _ 30 Days of Night _ . Vampires were things I avoided on principle. These were  _ true _ vampires, the ones you hear of in horror stories from centuries ago. The kind of vampires that would tear  _ Twilight _ fans to shreds. They couldn’t be reasoned with, they didn’t have restraint, they only wanted to  _ eat _ .

They were like zombies mixed with vampires, which I guess is just what a vampire actually is. Undead creature eating live humans, except vampires have some kind of survival instinct. Again, a subject I avoided. But damn my young and foolish heart. I didn’t think of the consequences of when it all went wrong. I only saw people in pain.

The first person I saved was an electrician at the power plant. The vampire that was going to kill him, I managed to deflect so the man could run. It was stupid, because guess who ended up being the replacement meal?

The vampire bit me, but didn’t kill me. I remember my blood boiling in my skin, and horrible feeling of my heart slowing to a stop.

The rest of it felt foggy. I could see it, all of it, but it never felt like it was me doing it. I was watching my life through the eyes of someone else. I screamed for her to stop, for someone to help me. The thing controlling my body only laughed. The more I screamed the worse it was.

I never saw sunlight, just the moon and stars, and lamps. Sometimes, I caught reflection. My eyes had been changed from their constant amber to a dark orange, and they were covered in gaudy eyeliner and eyeshadow. I was wearing provocative clothes. My black hair was let down, falling past my shoulders in betrayingly calm waves. My cheeks were rosy pink, and I had blood on my jaw that I knew wasn’t my own. I was still physically twelve years old, like the night I turned.

I heard screaming from all ages. Mothers begged me not to hurt their children, spouses begged for their partner, and others begged not to die. She never answered their pleas. She made it worse. It was always worse...

Fifty years of this. Of living my life in a fog, like a nightmare where you were lucid enough to know it was a dream but unable to change anything.

I screamed, probably driving myself insane in the process.

I killed, anything and everything that I could eat.

I killed everything that tried to harm me.

I know I talk about her like she was an entirely different person. In a lot of ways, she was. That’s not true, though. She’s not someone complete separate. She’s me, and she’s everything I hate about myself.

She doesn’t save, she kills. She doesn’t help, she maims. She’s not your friend, she’s your predator.

When I finally woke up, I felt my heart beating in my chest. I was dressed in a nightgown, and I was in a big soft bed. This wasn’t her style. She hated soft, and covering herself. She’d rather sleep in silk satin sheets, and wear as little as possible.

That day, I learned of the damage she had caused. I learned how much of the human race was left, how many she had killed personally. Some years later, I did proper math of how many were dead because of my actions. I cried for three days.

So, then, when I watched  _ Dalek _ and saw the Dalek go through that emotional turmoil...see a man I started to see as kindred spirit cross the line. I didn’t know whose side to be on. Even now, three years after I first saw it, I still don’t know.

There are the facts. The Dalek killed people. The Doctor tortured the Dalek. Rose brought it back to life in a show of compassion that no Dalek had ever seen. The Doctor thought he had killed Rose. The Doctor held a gun. All of these are things that happened.

The Dalek killed, because he was trying to get home. The Doctor tortured the Dalek, because it was the closest he could get to torturing himself. Rose showed it compassion, because it was in pain. The Doctor, the man of  _ moral high ground _ , held a gun because he thought it was right.

I still don’t know who was in the right. Or if there even  _ was _ a right.

What I did know, was that I had just walked into Van Statten’s museum.

My mind had immediately been hit by the time sense.  _ Earth, Utah, America. May 17, 2012. It’s a Thursday. _ My face scrunched up, trying to shake off the slightly dizzy feeling that came with it. The dizzy feeling didn’t stop, instead it grew worse like a headache. Actually, no, this was a headache. A bad one too. It was like tuning a car radio wrong, and a loud screech came out instead.

I wasn’t wearing my hoodie today. Today it was a long black fitted tank top, a dark purple tunic, blue jeans, and my purple sneakers. The tunic covered any scars on my back, should the tank expose the scar on my shoulder. My armbands were proudly on my forearms, blocking views of any sort of freckles or skin from where the tunic’s elbow sleeves ended. My necklace with the purple lollipop charm and my TARDIS key hung from my neck, cool metal perfectly natural against my skin.

The Doctor was beside me, looking over the place. “So what is it?” Rose asked, poking her head out from the TARDIS. “What’s wrong?”

“Don’t know.” The Doctor mumbled under his breath. “Some kind of signal drawing the TARDIS off course.”

My head felt squeezed, so I didn’t say anything sarcastic about his driving. My face scrunched up, like I wasn’t sure of what was in front of me, to try and mask the pain from the lovebirds. I glanced at the TARDIS, wondering if something with the year itself or the Dalek was messing with my head.

She hummed, almost like an apology. Not a true apology either, it was a  _ for the greater good _ apology. I did  _ not _ like where that was goi-

There was a stab of pain in my head. I bit my lip to keep from crying out in pain.

“Where are we?” Rose asked.

“Earth. Utah, North America. About half a mile underground.” The Doctor listed.

There were words in my mind, but like the Slitheen advertisement it was all just gibberish. There was an underlying plea for help, and it was repeating too. It hurt, the kind of pain where someone is pulling on your hair and doesn’t stop.

“And when are we?”  _ Great Merciful Story, could they shut their mouths for two seconds? _

“Two thousand and twelve.”  _ Go to hell. _

I walked over to a display case, if for something to distract myself from my headache. Plea for help, like the Dalek’s distress call. This wasn’t looking so good for me. I mentally reached out to the TARDIS, hoping she could do  _ anything. _

“God, that’s so close. So I should be twenty six.”

_ ‘This was four months ago on my Earth, but something close to five years ago for me. I’m fifteen. _ ’ I thought, wincing again at another spark of pain. _ ‘Time travel. It makes way more sense in your head.’ _

Then it was gone. The pain stopped, like someone had flipped a switch. I took an easy breath as the lights kicked on. There was still this repeating message in my head, but I was hearing it through water. Why wasn’t that part of the translation working on me? Spoken and written word were just fine, but the messages I was having problems with.

It could be that it  _ wasn’t  _ supposed to work with me. Another part of my missing memories could be that I’m limited on my translation abilities, or connections. I realized with slight worry that this could be why the Doctor hadn’t noticed I was a Time Lady. My mind was blocked of the full Time Lord telepathic biology. The TARDIS’ translation matrix was still working, and right now that was the only thing that was.

Still, that doesn’t explain the headache. It could be the Dalek, but how could the Dalek get a message into my mind that also caused me pain? Suddenly, the TARDIS’  _ for the greater good  _ apology put a sense of dread in my stomach.

“Blimey. It’s a great big museum.” Rose said, looking at all of the exhibits.

I did too, keeping my breathing calm so I didn’t cause a scene. The last thing I needed was for the Doctor to get panicky before we’ve even  _ looked  _ at the Dalek.

“An  _ alien  _ museum.” The Doctor said, walking on my left. Stuck between the Doctor and his companion, why do I sense a common theme? “Someone’s got a hobby.”

“An unhealthy one at that.” My voice came out more tired than I hoped, almost scratchy. My eyes caught the Cyberman head, and Slitheen arm. A tiny part of me hoped the Doctor didn’t notice my voice.

The Doctor gave me a glance, and that tiny bit of hope was thrown in the air and snogged to death. “You alright?”

“Yeah-h.” I said, my voice wobbling at the end. It was near excruciating, and I was trying with all I had not to scream. It wasn’t because I was trying to hide the Dalek from the Doctor, I just didn’t want him focusing on the wrong thing.

“You’re really quiet today.” The Doctor commented, out of concern.

I shrugged, pushing my hands in my jean pockets. “If you say.” Was my scratchy voiced reply. 

The Doctor had been nicer to me the past few weeks. Ever since I told him about the Johnson Massacre (working title, honest), he seemed to see me in a new light. We both lost our homes, our families. Sure the circumstances were different, but we were still two orphans.  _ A lonely god without a home. _

My voice was still shaky, and I felt my hearts sped up just a bit. Why, though? It’s not like I was scared. The Dalek nearby was nearly dead, tortured within an inch of his already lonely life and then be told it was the last(ish) of his kind. The one guy I trusted and emphasized with was gonna torture it  _ more _ . The girl at my right was going to be held multiple times at Dalek-point.

I’ll just ignore it. That’s always worked for me, except for when it hasn’t...yes, I realize how that conversation just went!

The Doctor seemed to believe it as much as I did. He turned to the display cases, but walked just a bit closer to me. The action felt a bit unnecessary. “They must have spent a fortune on this.” The Doctor pointed at various exhibits. “Chunks of meteorite, moon dust.” He pointed at a strange circular device. “That’s the milometer from the Roswell spaceship.”

One of the display cases, one just across from the Cyberman head, made my blood boil.

Throughout all of my lives, there have only been two people I considered father figures. The first was the one back Home, the one that is my  _ biological _ father. The other was, funny enough, an alien. Jumba Jookiba, creator of 628 experiments.

He adopted me soon after meeting me in Kaua’i, the town of  _ Lilo & Stitch _ . He had taught me some stuff about inventing, it was how I built the bomb out of clocks and how I knew how to take down the spider bots of Cassandra’s. Ten years that alien was my father, I called him Pops.

And in that display case in the near basement of Henry Van Statten’s museum, was one of his inventions. I know it was, I helped him fix it. Well, helped is a strong word, I handed him the tools.

It was similar to a home box, like in  _ The Time of Angels _ . This was smaller, compact enough to fit in the big ship Pops had turned into a bed and breakfast. It had broken once, and Pops was insistent we fix it before we could take the ship on a joyride.

Before I was even aware, my legs had marched me right up to the case. I stopped myself just before touching the glass. It was the one from Pops’ ship, I know it was. River had graffitied that home box with old Gallifreyan, I did this one in the language of Pops’ home planet.

I could still remember the look in his eyes when I told him I knew the language. He was so happy, so surprised. It had been awhile since I wrote it, but I still understood all of the little alien letters on the box.  _ ‘Made by Jumba & Mahina Jookiba.’ _

What the damn hell was it doing here, in a live action TV show? In the basement of that heartless Dalek torturer?

“Terra?” Rose called out.

I didn’t turn to her. As angry as I was, you would definitely see my real age. You would see every dark deed done by my hands, and I couldn’t put Rose through that.

Her voice came closer. “What’s that?” She asked.

The Doctor came up behind us. I was still glaring at the alien letters that spelt my father’s name. “It’s a home box.”

“And for those of us who  _ don’t _ know what that is?” Rose asked him, teasingly.

_ ‘A piece of my father’s ship is here, and you’re flirting?’ _ I growled in my mind.

“It’s like the black box in a plane.” The Time Lord said, boy noticing her flirty tone. “Except for spaceships. If the ship crashes, the home box flies home with all of the flight data.”

“Does the TARDIS have one of those?” The companion asked.

The Doctor hesitated. “She doesn’t need it.”

“Alright.” The word was dragged out, seeing through to the message the Doctor was really saying.  _ ‘There wasn’t a home for it to fly to.’  _ “So what’s it doin’ here?” Rose asked, changing the subject. “Shouldn’t it be with it’s ship, thing?”

“Yeah. It should.” The Doctor said, in suspicion. “There’s something on the top. Looks like writing.”

“Shouldn’t it be translating?”

“Yeah.” A beat. “It should.”

_ ‘What happened to you, Pops?’ _ I thought.

The only reason it would be away from the ship is if it crashed. It couldn’t have crashed, because Pops only took it to the air in emergencies. The only emergency that would explain this was my disappearance, and they needed to get to the Grand Councilwoman for help searching for me. They would never have found me, never find us. We were dead, we were gone.

The ship crashed. The ship had crashed and now  _ I  _ was the one wondering if they were alive or dead. Pops couldn’t be dead. He was Pops. Pops would last forever, he had to. I couldn’t lose him again, not like this.

“Terra?” Rose asked, voice soft.

It occurred to me at that moment I had a tear on my cheek. One of the songs I listened to my first day in my room came to me,  _ ‘Conceal, don’t feel. Don’t let them know.’ _

“Was that a Slitheen arm?” I asked, changing the subject while swallowing the lump in my throat.  _ ‘Pops isn’t dead. Mahina Jookiba is dead.’ _

The human girl took the bait. “That’s a bit of Slitheen!” She walked over to it, surprised. “That’s a Slitheen’s arm. It’s been  _ stuffed _ .”

With emotional difficulty, I looked away from the home box. It was the closest thing I could ever get to Kaua’i, the only thing I could get from there that proved my existence there. Proof that I could jump between realities.

_ Physical proof I’m a freak. _

The Time Lord behind me hesitated before walking off. I was thankful. I raised an armband to my cheek, rubbing away the tear. These things weren’t supposed to be used as tissues.

“Oh, look at you.”

I turned, hoping that my eyes didn’t show the ache inside of thinking about Pops. A quick glance at the TARDIS made me wonder again. Was this another reason why she gave me Mahina’s room, to prepare me for finding this box? Nothing could have prepared me for that.

The Doctor was standing in front of the Cyberhead. Including the box, where did Henry Van Statten get a Cyberhead?

“What is it?” I asked, wiping away the last trace of the tears.

The Doctor didn’t turn back, staring with an almost look of nostalgia at the head. “An old friend of mine. Well, _ enemy _ .” He self corrected. I stared at the head, looking into his eyes. “The stuff of nightmares reduced to an exhibit.”

I briefly imagined my dark self, wondering what ever happened to her body back on that Earth. Had she been made into an exhibit too? A fairytale to ward children from dangers of the night? Did they have paintings of her, soaked in blood and hate in her orange eyes? Was there a Van Statten type in that world, collecting all of the vampire artifacts he can find to try and understand them?

“I’m getting old.” The Doctor said, bringing me out of my dark thoughts.

“And your driving is proof.” I deadpanned. My headache was coming back, and it was stronger this time. It felt like someone was drilling into my skull. My hand reached up to my temple, face twisting up in pain. 

“Am I  _ ever  _ going to live that down?” The Doctor said, adding a small smirk. When he saw my pained expression he was concerned. “Terra, really, are you alright?”

“Just a headache.” I hissed, grimacing. I bit my lip to keep from crying out a new wave of pain. My eyes were clenched so tight they started watering.

“Is that where the signal’s coming from?” Rose interjected.

“No, it’s stone dead.” The Doctor explained. He was still staring at me, I could feel his eyes as strange as that sounded. “The signal’s alive. Something’s reaching out, calling for help.”

That was just putting a greater sense of dread in my gut.  _ ‘The signal’s alive.’ _ That could be it. The signal was alive, reacting to the torture just as the Dalek was. I could feel the Dalek being tortured.

In an act purely of the Doctor, he touched the Cyberhead’s display case. It was a smart move, despite it looking so stupid. Him getting us caught was the best way to find out who had collected of all the alien artifacts, including my home box.

Soldiers poured into the room. I was a bit surprised at their speed. The circled around us. Rose flinched, only slightly. She had grown tougher. I glared at one of the soldiers coldly, then it twisted into a devious smile.

“If someone’s collecting aliens, that makes you Exhibit A.” Rose said, barely quiet enough to not be heard by the soldiers.

_ ‘And I’m Exhibit B.’ _

 

==CON==

 

The farther from the Dalek we were, the less my headache pounded on my skull. The drilling feeling stopped and started at intervals, barely enough time to get ready for the next one. I kept my breathing calm, hoping that it would dull the pain.

This gave me more room to think about the home box. How did it end up in Van Statten’s museum? Why was it on this Earth? DId it have any connection as to why I had Mahina’s room in the TARDIS?

I missed Pops so much, I missed everyone from those days. Thinking something had happened to them, it was horrible. When everything was said and done, I was gonna get that box back and figure out what happened. No one hurts my family and gets away with it.

The thought that I was overacting crossed my mind. It could’ve just been a box that looked like Pops’ home box. My future self could’ve made it to help get me into the room with the Dalek. The time was right, she would be going to the Reichenbach Falls in four months, plenty of time to drop off the home box. Besides, it wasn’t like the ohana were the only people I lost.

But when I looked at that box, I just  _ knew _ it was the real one. I guess it was like when the Doctor was looking at Jack. The box just felt  _ wrong.  _ It didn’t belong in this reality. I had to get it back, get it home.

“You still having that headache?” The Doctor asked in a whisper.

“It’s not as strong as before.” I whispered back.

“No whispering.” One of the soldiers ordered.

Great, now I wanna have an attitude.  _ ‘How about you shut your mouth before I shove my fist into it?’ _

The elevator dinged open. The Doctor walked out first, followed by Rose and I and then the soldiers. Henry Van Statten was already there, being shown various tech by Adam  _ ‘Door in the Head _ ’ Mitchell.

He was holding the outer space musical instrument, holding it sideways. “And this is the last. Paid eight hundred thousand dollars for it.”

Goddard walked in behind us. I barely noticed, or cared. “What does it do?” Van Statten said, holding it by the fin.

The headache faded just in time for secondhand embarrassment for the guy.  _ ‘Why, Henry, why are you doing that?’  _ “Well, you see the tubes on the side?” The tech guy explained, carefully pointing at the device. “It must be to channel something. I think maybe fuel.”

“I _ really  _ wouldn’t hold it like that.” The Doctor advised.

“Shut it.” Goddard warned.

“Really, though, that’s wrong.” The Doctor said simply.

“Is it dangerous?” Adam asked.

“No, it just looks silly.” The Doctor excused, reaching for the device.

The soldiers all cocked their guns. I rolled my eyes. There was a  _ lot _ of stuff making me bitchy today. While the boys played, I started up the instinct of profiling his office.  _ ‘American flag and some other one of red, white and blue, right next to a painting of himself. No nameplate on the desk, or anywhere else in the building. Anyone here  _ knows _ who the boss is. Textbook Narcissistic Personality Disorder, but that’s obvious. Excessive attention to self, grandiose thinking, and inability to accept fault.’ _

_ ‘Alien obsession. He wants to be the one to crack space travel, be the sole outlet for any of it. Wanna go to Mars? Ask Henry. Want the cure to the common cold? Ask Henry.’ _

_ ‘Type A personality. Driven by competition, hostile, cynical. He will not back down from a fight unless a bigger dog comes along.’ _

_ ‘No idea on a stressor. Not enough in just his room to tell. Could be anything, and it’s not needed for the profile.’ _

The sounds of music broke me out of my thoughts. Looking to the Doctor, I saw him holding the instrument. It was lit up rather brightly, playing soft tunes and such.

“Delicate.” The Time Lord explained in a tone I was daring to call smug.

“It’s a musical instrument.”  _ ‘And you’re an idiot.’ _

“And it’s a long way from home.” The Doctor said, still playing.

_ ‘It’s not the only one.’  _ I thought, jokingly.

Van Statten held out his hand. “Here, let me.” The Doctor gave it back. Van Statten played, only to create harsher notes. It was grating on my nerves just like this headache. I was tempted to snap at him to shut up, but you could feel this conversation was just for the two of them.

“I  _ did _ say delicate.” The Doctor reminded, eyeing Henry’s hand. “It reacts to the smallest fingerprint. It needs precision.” Low and behold, the man figured out how to play. He smiled smugly at the success. “Very good. Quite the expert.” The Doctor said, with a hint of questioning.

Van Statten face the Doctor a suspicious look. “As are you.” He tossed it behind him. It gained a glare from the Doctor and I, but  _ Door-In-The-Head _ was more worried about the expensive purchase. “Who exactly are you?”

“I’m the Doctor. And who are you?” The headache came back. Diluted but distance, but still annoying.

“Like you don’t know.” Van Statten scoffed.  _ ‘And now I wanna stab him with my poorly cut finger nails.’  _ “We’re hidden away with the most valuable collection of extraterrestrial artifacts in the world, and you just stumbled in by mistake.”

The Doctor grinned. “Pretty much sums me up, yeah.” 

Van Statten stood up from his desk, eyeing the Doctor. He thought the Doctor was the head of this operation. “The question is, how did you get in?” He walked around his desk, getting almost face to face with the Doctor. “Fifty three floors down, with your little cat burglar accomplices. You’re quite a collector yourself, the blonde is rather pretty.”

‘ _ Wow.  _ That  _ wasn’t hurtful to my self esteem. _ ’ I grumbled, crossing my arms over my chest.  _ ‘Not that I care. This isn’t my real face, just the current one.’ _

“She’s going to smack you if you keep calling her  _ she _ .” Rose warned.

Van Statten smiled. “She’s English too! Hey, little Lord Fauntleroy. Got you a girlfriend.” This made Adam uncomfortable. Van Statten turned to me. “And what about you?”

I glared at him, trying and failing to keep my face impassive.

“Ah. Silent type, huh?” Van Statten mused, losing interest.

_ No! _

“Where did you get the home box?” I asked. My tone had taken the demanding quality it had with Sneed in 1869.  _ ‘This is like my version of the Oncoming Storm. What did Four say the Daleks called me? The Fallen Star. I like that now.’ _

“At least you’re American.” Van Statten looked perplexed, yet curious. “Is that the musical instrument?”

“It’s the box in your  _ museum _ with the odd markings on the top.” I said, holding back the urge to growl. My words came out cold because of it. “It’s black, and no bigger than a shoebox. The letters look vaguely like chicken feet. How did you get it?”

The selfish man grinned. “Why do you care about this, what did you call it, home box?”

“I asked first.” I half growled. Van Statten didn’t answer.  _ ‘Remember, narcissism. I have to make him tell me what he knows, get him to monologue. He has to think he has all the cards.’ _

“I built it.”

Though I wasn’t looking at either of them, I still felt the shocked looks from the Doctor and Rose. I was glaring Van Statten in the eyes, demanding nothing less than an explanation.

“How do I know you’re not lying?” Van Statten asked, toying with me. Storyline, I wanted to punch him so hard right now. “Do you have any proof?”

I took a short breath, to calm myself.  _ ‘No.  _ “Yes. The markings on the top, I know what they say.”

“Do you?” Van Statten chuckled.  _ ‘Great. Including ‘hates women’ in his profile.’ _ “Then tell me, what does it say?”

“Tell me what you know.” I countered. “Or else nothing.”

“Uh.” Adam began. I changed my glare towards him. “No one really knows where it came from. It just, fell out of the sky five years ago. Landed in Russia, became the Russian crater.”

_ ‘The one where they found the cure for the common cold? _ ’ I thought briefly.  _ ‘How the hell did they get that from that old box?’ _

“And you said you built this?” Van Statten asked.

“I know my tech, yeah.” My voice dropped, and it had the booming quality the Doctor’s had that made everyone listen to it.

They found it in a crater, away from the ship. Jumba had been banished from his home planet, and Grand Council didn’t want it, so we changed the calibration to bring it back to Kaua’i should the ship crash. Why had it landed in Russia? No one should be able to get into that box to change the return location except Pops and myself, or, maybe someone like-

No. She was gone. This did  _ not _ make me feel any better.

“Then why’d you lose it?” Van Statten challenged.

_ ‘It lost me.’ _ I thought, sadly. It went back to rage with another headache. “That’s none of your business, sunshine.”

Van Statten laughed. He was curious about me now, and I would see the Dalek. Oh, and if I tried I could stop the Doctor from torturing it. None of that mattered to me right now, just finding out about the box. “What does it say?”

I kept my face steeled. “It’s my name.” I answered, curtly. “Terra Johnson. What do I call you?”  _ ‘Besides Dick-head?’ _

“This is Mister Henry Van Statten.” Adam explained, his nerves betraying him. Every employee was scared the closer they were to Van Statten.

It was a bit surprising when Rose talked. She was surprised by my reveal of the box, but curiosity about Van Statten won out. A quick look at the Doctor told me that he was gonna be asking me questions later. “And who’s he when he’s at home?” The companion asked.

“Mister Van Statten owns the internet.” Adam stated.

“Don’t be stupid. No one owns the internet.” Rose talked down to him.

Van Statten smirked. “And let’s just keep the whole world thinking that way, right kids?”

His employees may be scared, but I was just annoyed. I wanted to punch his fucking face into next week. The Time Lord beside me was the same. “So you’re just about an expert in everything except the things in your museum. Anything you don’t understand, you lock up.” The Doctor rationalized.

“Probably to put your narcissistic persona at ease.” I said, boredly.

The man was amused by us. “And you claim greater knowledge?”

“I don’t make claims.” I said in a low voice.

“I don’t  _ need _ to make claims, I know how good I am.” The Doctor added.

“And yet, I captured the two of you.” Van Statten bragged. “Right next to the Cage. What were you doing down there?”

The Doctor met his stare. “You tell us.”

“The cage contains my one living specimen.” Van Statten bragged.

“And that is?” I asked, the headache coming on a little stronger.

“Like you don’t know.” The man scoffed.

“Show us.”  _ ‘If the Doctor knew what it was, he wouldn’t bring me down there with him. If he knew what  _ I  _ was, he’d drag me to the TARDIS so he could keep me safe.’ _

“You want to see it?” Van Statten asked, looking back between the Doctor and I.

Rose snorted. It took off some of the building tension in the air. “Blimey, you can smell the testosterone.”

Van Statten seemed sold on the idea. Besides, if we failed, then the Metaltron would kill us and he’d just wipe Rose’s mind of us.  _ ‘And I’m just a little scared at how fast I figured that out.’ _

“Goddard, inform the Cage we’re heading down.” Van Statten said, still keeping eye contact with the Doctor. He snapped his fingers towards Adam. “You, English. Look after the girl. Go and canoodle or spoon or whatever it is you British do.”

I glared at Van Statten, dread forming a pit in my gut. We were about to be in spitting distance of the Dalek, and I was still having the headaches. 

“And you, Doctor with no name, and  _ Terra Johnson _ .” Van Statten smiled as he walked towards the elevator. “Come and see my pet.”

 

==CON==

 

Just like magic, my headache was stabbing at my brain. It stopped just before it became excruciating, though not before the Doctor missed it.

“How long have you been getting these headaches?” The Doctor asked, keeping his voice low so Van Statten wouldn’t catch it.

I winced. The headache was only slightly less annoying now, though my mind ached like an overused muscle. It was like my body was rejecting the message, trying to spit it out but the Dalek fought back. It wanted to be heard...it wanted to be saved.  _ It wanted to be let go. _

Of course, that was when I remembered the Doctor standing beside me. I took a cautionary step back. He hadn’t hurt the Dalek, yet.

The Doctor put his lips in a thin line. I guess he didn’t like the idea of something hurting a companion...if I was even that. He glanced over to Van Statten. He was wary of the man now more than ever. The Doctor turned to me just as we approached the Cage. “Did you really build that box?”

I didn’t answer him that time. 

“We’ve tried everything.” Van Statten cut off an reply I could’ve given. He pressed a button on a panel. The door behind him easing open. “The creature has shielded itself but there’s definite signs of life inside.”

“Inside? Inside what?” The Doctor asked.

The man that has been torturing the Dalek walked up to Van Statten. He barely glanced at Simmons while he talked. “Welcome back, sir. I’ve had to take the power down. The Metaltron is resting.”

“Metaltron?”

“Did you seriously drag us down here for a stupid transformer?” I said low.

Van Statten smirked. “Thought of it myself. Good, isn’t it?” He gave me a look. “Although I’d much to prefer to find out it’s real name.”

I sneered at him, disgusted.  _ ‘Vastly misunderstood creatures, Daleks.’ _

Simmons took off his rubber gloves. An attendant handed him another set. “Here, you’d better put these on.” He held out the two pairs of gloves. “The last guy that touched it burst into flames.”

The Doctor grinned. “I won’t touch it then.”

Simmons held a pair towards me. I held up my hands. “Don’t like rubber.”

He grimaced, unamused by my teenage antics. The annoyance on his face gave me a little joy.

“Go ahead, Doctor, Terra. Impress me.” Van Statten taunted.

I squared my shoulders back. The Doctor nodded at the others in the room, walking into the Cage. I walked coincidentally behind him. Man, if I was wearing heels I would look badass.

The whole place was shrouded in darkness. All you could see clearly was it’s eyestalk. Normally, I wasn’t deathly afraid of the dark.  _ ‘Vashta Narada. Vampires that are fish in this universe. Weeping Angels that can turn off the lights.  _ A Dalek _.’ _

_ ‘Damn it, self. Stop making me paranoid!’ _

_ ‘Did I mention Cybermen yet? Or the House? The Beast in it’s Pit? Whatever that monster was in  _ Midnight _?’ _

_ ‘Why do I encourage you?’ _

The door closed with a loud metal click. It jolted me back into reality. No, I didn’t jump. Not that the Doctor could see it anyway...at least I hope he didn’t.

The Doctor picked up a tool. In the darkness, I could barely see the drill.  _ ‘No blood on anything. Why doesn’t that make me feel better? Because I know why it can’t bleed.’  _ “Look, I’m sorry about this.” The Doctor said, conspiratorially. “Mister Van Statten might think he’s clever, but never mind him. I’ve come to help. I’m the Doctor.”

“Doc Tor?” It’s head lit up with the syllables. The word, coupled with the darkness, made the hair on my neck stand up. 

“Impossible.” The Doctor breathed. For the first time since meeting him, I saw true fear in his eyes. My arms wrapped around my chest, rubbing on my tunic sleeves. 

“ _ The _ Doctor?” It screeched.

Someone in the next room turned on the lights. The Dalek was wrapped in chains, with dents on some of it’s metal exterior. The plunger arm was bent in an odd place, the whisk aimed at the Time Lord. It had no face, but I could practically taste the rage coming off him.

“ _ Exterminate _ !” The Dalek screeched. “Exterminate!”

I barely had a second to wrap my mind around it. The Doctor grabbed my left arm, dragging me to the door. His body blocked the Dalek from me, like I was any safer here. “Stay behind me!” The Doctor ordered.

The Doctor banged on the door with all he had, pulling at the lock. My eyes were still on the Dalek. The message was playing on the loop in my head, he wanted to go home. That was all he wanted...

“Let us out!” The Doctor pleaded.

I just stood behind the Doctor, too much going on at once for me to ask what was happening.

“ _ Exterminate _ !” The Dalek yelled. “You are an enemy of the Daleks!”

The Doctor blocked more of my body with his, realizing the door wouldn’t open. “Doc.” I said, my voice shaky. “What’s-”

“Terra Johnson.” The Doctor said. He said in in his ‘ _ your important to me _ ’ voice, you know the one. “It’s a Dalek. I’m so sorry.”

“Dalek?” Was my weak reply. “Is it gonna kill us?”

The Doctor looked back to the Dalek, his brow crinkled in confusion. “It’s not working.” The Oncoming Storm started laughing.

I flinched back, nearly hitting the tool table. This wasn’t the Doctor, laughing at our bumpy flight. This wasn’t the Doctor laughing at how Rose got spit in her eye. This was the Oncoming Storm laughing at a defenseless Dalek.

_ This _ was always the part that scared me in the episode. I’ve been trapped by Tobias Hankle, threatened by Yang, held at gunpoint by Hämsterviel, count how many times I’ve died on one hand,  _ been a murderous vampire for fifty years _ , and I was scared of his laughter.

“Fantastic! Oh, fantastic!” The word would’ve made me laugh. This time I was scared. This time the Doctor was scaring me. My hands gripped the sides of the moving tray. “Powerless! Look at you. The great space  **dustbin** . How does it feel?”

The Dalek had no face, but you could see it’s fear.  _ ‘You don’t have a predator.’ ‘The Predator is the Dalek’s word for you.’ _ “Keep back!” It tried to run, but the chains let it back away only a few inches.

“D-Doctor?” I called out. The word came out just above a whisper.

The Oncoming Storm didn’t hear me, so great was his rage. He marched up to the Dalek, glaring it right in the eyepiece. “What for? What’re you going to do to me?” He challenged it.

The Dalek just stared back in silence. The message playing in my head played faster,  _ louder.  _ He was scared of the Doctor, and I could feel it’s fear. I gulped audibly, checking to see if any of my hair had come out from the headband. It was a hassle of a hair piece, but it gave me a distraction.  _ ‘Doctor please stop. You’re scaring me, too.’ _

“If you can’t kill, then what are you good for,  **Dalek** ?” The Oncoming Storm taunted it, walking around it’s entrapment. I didn’t dare move any closer. If my headaches were stronger when I got close, I don’t even wanna know how it affected my emotions.

“What’s the  point of you? You’re  **nothing** .” I gasped, softly. The Doctor just called something  _ nothing _ . Storyline, I hated when he did that. It tore at my heart, no matter how I tried avoiding it. “What the  hell are you here for?”

“I am waiting for orders.” The Dalek said, feebly.

“W-what does it mean?” I called out, wanting to be able to do anything other than stand here scared.

The Oncoming Storm glanced back, as if just remember I was there. He didn’t change at my existence, if anything it made him angrier. He turned to the Dalek, shoulders squared back in rage. “You heard her, what does that mean?” The Time Lord said with bite. I flinched at the coldness in his voice.

“I am a soldier.” The Dalek explained, keeping it’s eyestalk on the Oncoming Storm. “I was bred to receive orders.”

“Well you’re never going to get any. Not ever.” The Doctor taunted, smiling with dark glee.

The Dalek’s reply was like the Doctor had offended him. “I  _ demand _ orders!”

“They’re never going to come! Your race is  dead !” My heart was dropping with every word out of his mouth, like he was saying it to me. Merciful Storyline, make it stop.

“Doctor.” I half whimpered.

“You all burnt, all of you. Ten million ships on fire. The entire Dalek race **wiped** out in **one second**.”

“You lie!”

“Doctor.” I tried again, louder this time.

“I watched it happen. I  **made** it happen!” The Oncoming Storm growled.

That stopped me from arguing. My eyes started watering. Two wasn’t even this emotional, I wanted badly to say it was because I was close to the Dalek and could feel it’s pain but that wasn’t it. Any time the Doctor (especially Nine) talked about the War, it was with pain and sorrow. He would never look you in the eye, and his voice would always be soft.

He never shouted it out like this. This wasn’t the sort of thing you just said flippantly. This was two entire species being wiped out, a Time War ending, countless lives and other planets gone, an entire history blown away. The Doctor was always ashamed of what he did, always looking back on it with regret. He would never say it like this...ever. He hated what he did.

My hearts broke, hearing him say it so passionately without hesitation.  _ ‘Doctor please come back.’ _ A tear fell down my cheek, so I quickly wiped it away.

“You destroyed us?” The Dalek said, not wanting to believe it.

One could suffocate in the tension in the room. The Doctor seemed to be hit with what he had just said, backing away from the Dalek. He turned away from it, coming to face me. I was brushing another tear away, not wanting to be caught crying.  _ ‘Oh, the Doctor’s angry and being a bastard to a Dalek, but heaven forbid I be caught crying. Great Merciful Storyline, what is wrong with you?’ _ Seeing me like this made him turn away from me too, facing the wall.

“I had no choice.” He argued, or maybe reminding himself.

Cautiously, I let go of the tray table. I took small steps towards the exchange, going up to his side. The Doctor needed someone right now, and I was the only friendly in the room. “And what of the Time Lords?” The Dalek asked.

The Doctor paused before answering. I nearly reached my hand to his shoulder, wanting to give any sign to him that I was still here. “Dead. They burnt with you.” The Doctor replied. “ _ The end of the last great Time War. _ Everyone lost.”

“Y-You killed them too?” I said, my hands curling over my chest. He didn’t respond, or even acknowledge he heard me. With a bravery I didn’t know I had at the moment, I reached over and put my hand on his arm. Much like Jabe did on Platform One.

This time, the Doctor didn’t put his hand over mine. The Doctor shook my hand off his arm, glaring at the wall before him. I took a step away from him. Not gonna lie, that hurt. Not sure in what way; did it hurt because I knew if Rose did that he would’ve been fine, or because he was giving into the dark?

“And the coward survived.” The Dalek taunted back.

My hearts beat faster in fear. _ ‘Oh Story...no. Please no. I have to make him stop.’ _ “Doctor, don’t.” I pleaded, taking cautionary steps so I stood between him and the electrical panel. In hindsight, not my best move. “It’s taunting you. Don’t do anything stupid.”

He ignored my plea. “Oh, and I caught your little signal. _ ‘Help me. Poor little thing.’ _ ”  _ ‘And I caught it, too. So please stop.’  _ “But there’s no one else coming ‘cause there’s no one else left.”

The Dalek looked down, lowering the whisk and plunger. “I am alone in the universe.”

“Yep.”

“If the Dalek was broadcasting the signal...” I muttered to myself. The Doctor didn’t notice. It was the only chance I had for him to stop.  _ ‘The Doctor would never intentionally harm a companion. I only hope to the Storyline that this gets through his thick skull.’ _

“So are you. We are the same.” The Dalek said.

“And Van Statten’s been torturing it...” I added, a little louder.

The Doctor turned to the Dalek, angrily shouting again. “We’re  **not** the same! I’m not-” A beat. The Oncoming Storm grinned. “No, wait. Maybe we are.”

“And my headaches get worse the closer I am to it...” I said, my voice shaking. _ ‘Doctor, please hear me. Please stop.’ _

“You’re right. Yeah, okay. You’ve got a point.” He said, walking over to the panel.

“Doctor please stop-” I pleaded.

The Oncoming Storm marched past me, bumping my arm brutally. The force knocked me to the ground, adding the horrible fate the Dalek and I were about to be sentenced to. “‘Cause I know what to do. I know what should happen. I know just what you **deserve** .”

I looked up to the chained Dalek, then to the Doctor holding the lever. ‘ _ Oh shit.’ _

“ **Exterminate** .” The Doctor bragged.

“Doctor  _ please _ !” I tried to stop him, holding my arm out in hopes to grab his.

He pulled down the lever, and I was filled with agony.

My brain felt like it was exploding while still inside my head. Imagine putting a marshmallow in the microwave, what happened to it was happening to my head. My ears were ringing. My whole body felt like it was vibrating to the point of shattering. I tried gripping at my head, to null the pain, but it was like dousing a fire with water droplets.

Then it doubled. I couldn’t hold back anymore. It hurt too much. I was starting to cry, feeling the wetness on my cheeks but not much else.

Suddenly, the pain stopped. There was this feeling in my head, like a gate opening in my mind or maybe like my ears popping only so much larger. I gasped, unaware that I had been screaming the whole time. A strange scent in my nose, like copper and grass...was my nose bleeding?

A quick check showed that yes, it was.

“...I am Henry van Statten, now recognize me!” Van Statten said, making my headache change into agony. “Make it talk again, Simmons. Whatever it takes.”

I screamed again, the world around me turning fuzzy as electricity blasted into my mind.

“Hold on. She said she was feeling it’s pain.” Van Statten said, though it sounded hazy. Like listening through water. “Let’s see how far she can go. Check her vitals, Simmons, we have a new pet.”

The electricity faded after that, and then my world turned black.

 

==CON==

 

_ The sun was over our building, but the second sun shone in through the windows. Mother said she could see the dual Suns in my amber eyes. The sky was a beautiful deep orange, yet the color also filled me with... _ I’m trying to think of a word better than dread _. I missed the shining silver leaves. Everything looked like it was on fire. _

‘My planet’s gone. It’s dead. It burned like the Earth.’  _ A voice that was familiar yet not floated in my head. _

_ There was those voices again. The ones that got me into this mess. They’ve been there since I looked into the Schism,  _ and it looked into me. _ The more I thought about it, the more I learned, the more I  _ remembered _.  _ ‘It’s just remembering in the wrong direction.’

_ I didn’t like it in the Academy. Everyone was mean here, especially the kids. The grown-ups were stern. None of them wanted to have fun. I missed running through the fields, playing with dirt and looking up at the clouds. _

_ That wasn’t who I was anymore. I missed who I was before the Untempered Schism. _

_ “Tell us what you know.” The Lord President ordered. He looked down at me, like I was garbage. _

_ My lips clamped shut. He wouldn’t get any answers from me. The secrets will be kept.  _ ‘Silence must fall when the question is asked.’

_ “Tell us, and you can be spared.” The President pressed. “Tell us about what you saw.” He kneeled down, a scary look in his eyes. “Tell us about the Hybrid.” _

_ Not a syllable from me. I couldn’t decide whether to look at my shoes or up in his eyes. _

_ The Lord President glared down at me. I squared my shoulders, chin held up high. “As punishment for your crimes of treason, you shall be exiled. At the time of your regeneration, your memories of Gallifrey as well as the people on it will be removed. Any remnant of home, gone. You’ll forget everyone, your whole family, your whole life.” _

_ He had a sadistic glint in his eyes, making me want to back away. He knew that was what I was afraid of, losing my memories. It was a childish fear I had since first learning about regeneration. Mother had told me otherwise, but you don’t just forget your fears. _

_ I wanted to cry, scream at everyone that would hear me that this was wrong. I wanted Father to come save me, for Mother to tuck me back in bed and tell me a story. I wanted to be saved. _

_ They wouldn’t come. They abandoned me.  _ ‘You didn’t save my life. You trapped me inside it.’  _ I stayed strong, despite the coldness in this regeneration of Lord President. I couldn’t give in. Lives were at stake. He wouldn’t scare me. I refused to show him fear.  _ ‘He will not hurt me if I don’t show him fear.’

_ “Lord President-” One of the other Time Ladies tried to reason with him. _

_ The President glared at the Lady, holding up his Infinity Gauntlet. No...no the Infinity Gauntlet was something else...I always get these things mixed up... _

_ He shot her, letting her drop to the ground.  _ ‘Death is Time Lord for man flu.’  _ The President looked back to me, rolling his eyes in annoyance at being interrupted. “Now, where to send you?” _

_ “Earth.” The Visionary said. I turned to the elder looking woman in dismay. “The Star Child falls to Earth, where she will live out the rest of her days until she crumbles into dust.” _

_ I turned to the President, horror in my eyes. “You can’t send me there! The humans, Mother told me stories of them! They’ll kill me, then do it again before I can regenerate!” _

_ This answer was all the President needed. I was on Earth before the second sun set in the Gallifreyan red sky... _

‘The second sun would rise, and the mountains shined...’

 

==CON==

 

The Doctor found himself chained up. His leather jacket and green jumper folded on a nearby chair. He felt lucky that Van Statten hadn’t checked the pockets. He didn’t want to imagine what Van Statten would do with the sonic or the psychic paper. Two guards were at the Doctor’s sides, guns ready to fire in case he escaped.

The self proclaimed king of the Internet had pressed for more information on  **_that thing_ ** . The Doctor explained War, and how the Time Lords died out. The billionaire realized the Doctor was the last of his kind, an alien.

It occurred to him as he was being chained up that he still had two friends in the museum. Rose Tyler, and Terra Johnson. With growing worry, he remembered Terra had been screaming before the guards took him out of the Cage. Rose was at least somewhat safe with Andrew, or whatever the pretty boy’s name was.

Hold on. Terra had been screaming?  **_That thing_ ** was broken, it couldn’t have hit her. Why was she screaming?

The Doctor figured it out with self loathing. The man she trusted to keep her safe, protect her from the man that killed her family, had tortured something chained in a cage. Looking back, he could remember Terra begging him to stop. She had been basically screaming it at him.

She didn’t know what  **_that thing_ ** was. She only saw something that had been tortured. The Doctor knew better.  **_That thing_ ** was no good unless dead.

“Now, smile!” Van Statten said, turning on the laser camera.

The Doctor winced, resisting the urge to scream in pain.

“Two hearts! Binary vascular system.”  Van Statten laughed. He had hundreds of ideas going through his head. “Oh, I am  _ so _ going to patent this.” He would be even more powerful...this would make him millions.

The Doctor glared at him. “So that’s your secret. You don’t just collect this stuff, you scavenge it.” He accused.

Van Statten shrugged it off. “This technology has been falling to Earth for centuries.” The computer genius explained. He walked closer to the Doctor. “All it took was the right mind to use it properly.” He paused to emphasize his accomplishments. “Oh, the advances I’ve made from alien junk. You have no idea, Doctor. Broadband? Roswell.”

So  _ that _ was how he owned the Internet, he invented it.

“Just last year my scientists cultivated bacteria from the Russian crater, the one made by that black box your little friend built, and do you know what we found?” Van Statten asked, leaning in closer. The Doctor didn’t answer. “The  _ cure _ for the  _ common cold _ .” Van Statten bragged. “Kept it strictly within the laboratory of course. No need to get people excited. Why sell one cure when I can sell a thousand palliatives?”

He walked up to the Doctor. “And you know what I found out just before bringing you up here? Your little pet, the American? She’s linked to the Dalek. She feels it’s pain. Apparently, the closer she gets the more it hurts. Last I heard, they were running tests to see if it worked both ways.”

The Doctor couldn’t find a word to describe what he felt other than horror. Of course. The headaches were her feeling  **_that thing_ ** being tortured. She must’ve put it together. That was why she begged him to stop. Now, it was being done to her.  **_That thing_ ** wouldn’t feel anything.

But how could Terra feel  **_that thing’s_ ** pain?

“Oh, and she has two hearts. Just like you. Wonder what I could do with that.” Van Statten said more to himself. Hmm...he had some  dark ideas in his head now. If two of these  _ ‘Time Lords’  _ could make him millions,  _ three _ could make him  _ billions. _

The Doctor was disgusted. “Do you know what a Dalek is, Van Statten?” The computer genius rolled his eyes. “A Dalek is honest. It does what it was born to do for the survival of its species. That creature in your dungeon is better than you.”

“Which one?” Van Statten questioned. The Doctor scowled. Terra was better than  **_that thing_ ** , any day. “In either case, I will be true to myself and continue.” He walked back to the laser camera.

The Doctor found himself panicking. Terra was still in the Cage. Rose was Rassilon knows where. He  _ had _ to save them. When  **_that thing_ ** was loose... “Listen to me!  **That thing** downstairs is going to kill every last one of us!”

“Nothing can escape the Cage.” Van Statten argued boredly. Honestly, he had thought the Doctor was a genius.

He flipped the switch. The Doctor writhed in the slab with pain. Van Statten was finding it all just so fun. Once he finished with the Doctor, he could hook Terra up to this slab to run tests on her. He wondered what differences there were from male and female Time Lords. Well, beside the obvious.

“But it’s woken up. It knows I’m here.” The Doctor tried to reason with the computer genius. “It’s going to get out. Van Statten, I swear, no one on this base is safe. No one on this planet!”

Van Statten paused. The Doctor thought for a second that he believed in the danger. They could kill  **_that thing_ ** and end the Time War once and for all. The loss of his people wouldn’t be in vain. He could get to Terra, make sure  **_that thing_ ** was out of her mind before they killed it.

He could explain away everything that happened. He could tell her all about the Time War, how he  _ had _ to kill everyone with the Moment. She had two hearts, she was a Time Lady, she would understand once he explained. She was the Last Time Lady and by Rassilon the Doctor was going to keep her safe, especially from a Dalek.

The computer genius flipped the switch again. This time it was for Van Statten’s own enjoyment.

The Doctor knew this much. Once  **_that thing_ ** was out, Terra would be the first thing it killed.

 

==CON==

 

Rose just wanted to see what it was, that was all. She thought she could help the Doctor and Terra. She didn’t think she’d be seeing Terra wearing a white straight jacket. Rose didn’t think she would see Terra chained up beside the weird metal thing, screaming as it screamed.

She was only fifteen, four years Rose’s junior. She was an orphan, with no home except the TARDIS. Rose noticed she always had this sad air around her, following her like those storm clouds in the cartoons. Terra never cried, or at least never cried around Rose or the Doctor. She was nice, saving that pig and Mister Sneed.

Sometimes, Rose wondered just what that Logan bloke was talking about. It must’ve been the wrong Terra, or maybe someone that just looked a lot like her. Yeah, some people died around Terra, and the Doctor, but that wasn’t there fault. They were just in the wrong places at the wrong time.

_ ‘Especially the Doctor.’ _ Rose joked. Okay...maybe Harriet Jones was right about her sense of humor.

It was her first clear thought after stepping into the Cage. She could see the metal alien, trapped in rusted chains and it’s whole body looking dejected despite the lack of a face.

“Don’t get too close.” Adam warned.

Rose looked for her friend, her eyes already faintly wet. She recalled hearing the door close behind her, not noticing it out of concern for her friend. A shape was there in the darkness, too small to be the Metaltron.

“Terra!” Rose shouted in worry.

The girl whimpered, turning away from her friend. Rose went over to get her out of the straightjacket.

Rose knelt down by Terra, eyes swelling with tears. Her hand went to her mouth, trying to keep from crying. Terra’s head was covered in sweat. Her headband was gone, letting her brown hair cling to her damp face. There wasn’t enough to hide her clenched teeth or her face tightened in pain or the trail of blood leaking down from her nose.

“Oh God, what’d they do to ya?” Rose asked. She looked at the stark white jacket, hoping to find a way to get it off.

Terra didn’t answer. She closed her eyes tight, looking down to the concrete ground. It was like she trying to be quiet, trying to hide from even the smallest touch. Rose was reminded of a child curling under the sheets to hide from the dark.

“Why is she wearing that?” Rose asked Adam, focusing her rage on something other than Terra. Where was the Doctor? Why did he let this happen?

Adam gulped. “Uh...Simmons said she...she nearly scratched his eyes out.”

The companion gaped. Terra, scratching a man’s eyes out? Rose once saw her using scissors to cut her nails!  _ ‘My nail clippers are on the TARDIS.’ ‘Why didn’t you just bring them instead of the scissors?’ ‘Scissors can do more than nail clippers.’ _

“Adam, help me get this thing off.” Rose ordered. She tried to loosen the straps, but they were tricky.

The tech man came to her side. He had seen the poor girl in Van Statten’s office. He was just as confused as to why she was tied up with the Metaltron.

Rose easily more horrified when the jacket was tossed away. Terra was only wearing a black fitted tank top, you could see her bra strap peeking out. She had scars on her body, and she was paler than she should’ve been. She wasn’t even wearing those armbands or her headband.

She was panting in exhaustion and pain. “R...R...” She squinted her eyes open, then flinched away at the lights.

“No! No, don’t hurt yourself.” The companion said, worried. “Just, just take it slow.”

The young looking American took deep breaths. Rose wrapped her arm under Terra’s, slowly helping her to feet.

“Where’s her shirt?” Rose asked Adam.

“What?”

“Her shirt! She had on a purple shirt! Where did it go?” Rose snapped at him.

Adam held up his arms in innocence.

“Back...” Terra panted in exertion. “Corner.”

The British people in the room looked over to the corner, indeed seeing the purple heap that had been Terra’s tunic. Adam ran over to it, bringing it back to Rose so as to help make the teenager decent.

Terra braced herself, every movement caused pain. She pulled herself from Rose’s grasp, taking her purple tunic with her. With a few pained gasps and grunts, Terra was wearing her tunic again. The brunette sighed in relief, rubbing on her sleeves.

“Terra, what happened?” Rose asked, gently.

The Time Lady squared her shoulders, masking the emotions on her face. Rose felt like she was looking at a completely different person. The Time Lady glared at the Dalek. “Ask him.” Her voice was scratchy, like it had been this morning.

It pained Rose to leave a friend behind in what was obviously a time of need, but she also needed answers. The Doctor probably didn’t know what was wrong. Maybe he had tried stopping this...Rose didn’t want to think much more on that.

“Hello. Are you in pain?” Rose asked the Dalek.

It didn’t move. Terra frowned, biting her lip to stop herself from crying. She felt mentally exhausted, ready to collapse back onto the ground. This wasn’t her first time being tortured, but it  _ was  _ the first time she had a second heart. She could’ve sworn one of them nearly stopped earlier.

“My name’s Rose Tyler.” She introduced herself. “And, um, that there is my friend Terra Johnson. The two of us have this friend, he can help. He’s called the Doctor. What’s your name?”

“Yes.” The Dalek said. It sounded defeated. It had been. The last Time Lord, the Doctor, the Oncoming Storm had been in it’s presence, and it was too weak to kill him. What  _ was _ the point of him?

“What?” The companion asked.

“It  _ is _ in pain.” Terra grunted, rolling her shoulders as if to work out the soreness. “It was answering your first question.”

Rose turned back to the Dalek. Terra did have a point... The Dalek raised it’s eyestalk. “They torture me, but still they fear me.” The Dalek went on. “Do you fear me?”

“No.” Rose and Terra answered, though Terra’s was still scratchy. The Time Lady looked back, wondering if her bag was around. It should have a water bottle in there, and maybe she could find her necklace and armbands too.

“I am dying.” The Dalek admitted.

“No, we can help.” Rose tried to comfort it.

“I welcome death.” Terra had to resist snorting.  _ ‘Story, I hate that nickname. That’s what I get for being Queen of the Dead. Oh! There’s my armbands.’  _ “But I am glad that before I die I have met a human who was not afraid.”

The companion was torn. “Isn’t there anything I can do?” Terra, on the other hand, found her bag. That was a positive at least.

“My race is dead, and I shall die alone.” The Dalek lowered it’s eyestalk. Terra found her necklace (it had come off when she first passed out) by the tool tray. The lollipop charm and TARDIS key had reminded her of the harsh reality of the situation.

She quickly (as she could) put the gear and jewelry back on. It was a small comfort, making her feel at home.

She looked back to the Dalek, still hearing it’s garbled message in her mind. With horror, she saw Rose reaching out her hand. 

“Stop!” Terra called out, stumbling over to her friend.

“Rose, no!”

The companion pressed her hand on the Dalek’s side. It left a golden glow, spreading out to the rest of it’s shell. The Time Lady pulled Rose away.

The three people in the room backed away from it. The Dalek became more and more  _ alive _ with each step.

“Genetic material extrapolated.” The Dalek cheered. “Initiate cellular reconstruction!”

The chains broke off, freeing the Dalek from containment. Terra ran to the door, making sure Rose and Adam followed her. Her voice was too scratchy to get out orders properly, but she could feel it coming back. Time Lady Biology, Terra guessed.

The door opened. Simmons walked through, claw marks over his left eye. Rose looked down at Terra’s nails, seeing one of them was missing the black nail polish.

“What the hell have you done?” He barked at Rose. Terra growled. Simmons held tighter to his drill. “And why did you let her out?”

To both questions, Rose was silent.

Simmons rolled his eyes.  _ ‘English.’ _ He thought. The torturer walked over to the Dalek.

Terra huffed, grabbing roughly to Rose and Adam’s arms. She tried pulling them out of the Cage.

“Terra, we can’t just-”

“Don’t  _ care _ .” She snapped. Though her voice was healing, best not to antagonize it. “Door open. Us  _ run _ .”

Adam thought it was a brilliant idea. Rose followed suit.

The Dalek raised it’s plunger to the man. He scoffed. “What are you going to do?  _ Sucker me  _ to death?”

Terra scoffed. Why did people like him  _ talk _ ?

It seemed the Dalek has the same opinion. It pressed the plunger on the torturer’s face, spreading out until it covered his whole head.

Rose heard the screaming, and the bone crushing. “It’s killing him! Do something!” She pleaded to another worker.

Terra just gave the man a cold smile. She didn’t usually like people getting hurt...maybe the connection  _ did _ work the other way.

 

==CON==

 

When I was twenty-seven, I was tortured. My arm was attached to a wall by a rusted chain, my prison was a lumpy mattress that smelled like shit and mold. I think my nose was broken, but I can’t remember if that happened before or after.

The man, Tobias Hankel, that did that was just a scared kid, still haunted by the ghost of his father’s believes. He had split personality disorder, having the persona of his father and the angel Rafael. He kidnapped my partner, Spencer Reid, and myself.

Spence was hooked onto a chair, made to watch more of the sick acts Hankel performed. Hankel murdered people, and he made Spence choose who. Hankel even drugged Spence with a drug known at Dilaudid, so Hankel could find out which  _ of the sins he committed so the Lord’s will could be swift. _

I was given the drug too. Though it did make me feel all floaty, it made me relive some of the shitty moments I had up to that point. Losing friends, betraying friends, friends betraying me, watching a man I loved have his life drained away because I was too slow.

Spence and I were trapped for two days, just two. It was me that ended up shooting Hankel in the head for all of this. Not my first kill, but the first one I had pride in.  _ No one hurts my family. Not on my watch! _

But Spencer didn’t recover as well as anyone hoped. He was hooked on Dilaudid. It took months before I got him to admit he had a problem, even longer before he got help. I watched as he deteriorated, and knee there was only so much I could do without losing his trust forever.

There have been other cases since then, but Hankel’s always hit the hardest. I’ve considered it my greatest failure. Now, I think it had met it’s match.

My body was on the brink of going into a healing coma. I had been woken from a dreamless sleep just so I could be electrocuted vicariously through the Dalek and by Simmons so they could see if the Dalek felt anything on my end.

Then, Rose Tyler finds me. Rose Tyler gets me out. Rose Tyler helps me to my feet, and gives me my shirt. There might not be any sides today, but I was on whatever side Rose Tyler was on.

When I was sure the humans were out of the Cage, I pulled a purple metal water bottle from my bag.  _ Knew it would come in handy _ .

I was taking a short walk through memory lane as the door was sealed off. This wasn’t even my first time being tortured for science. Still, hope it ends the same. I blew the building sky high.

It must have been longer than I thought, because next thing I knew the screen nearby lit up to show the Doctor’s face. Well, Goddard’s too, but mostly Mr. Magoo.  _ ‘I mean, look at the ears!’ _

_ “You’ve got to keep it in that cell.” _ The Doctor ordered, a pause in his steps when he noticed me in the room.

I sent him a quick glance, going back to my water.  _ ‘Bastard should’ve heard me screaming at him. I even said please dammit! Fuck.’ _

“Doctor, it’s all my fault.” Rose admitted.

“No it wasn’t. Shut up.” I remarked, gulping down more water. It was soothing my parched throat, but only just.

A guard came up to the screen. “I’ve sealed the compartment. It can’t get out, that lock’s got a billion combinations.” He assured the Doctor.

The Doctor  _ “A Dalek’s a genius. It can calculate a thousand billion combinations in one second flat.” _

The others locked to him in horror. That was when the lock started beeping, telling us the Dalek was breaking out.

“Evacuate.” I said. My voice was stronger, but I would need it at top strength. I coughed, hoping it helped my throat.

The guards turned to me, training their guns at the door. 

“ _ Evacuate.” _ I repeated, stuffing my water bottle back into my bag.

“Miss, we really-”

“ _ The Doctor _ was scared of it. Not gonna take the chance that it’s bulletproof.” I walked to the screen, putting on a brave face for the Doctor. “Order an evacuation. Get everyone out of this museum.”

_ “We can’t let that thing out, Terra.” _ The Time Lord stressed.

“Let the  _ people  _ out!” I argued. “The Dalek just killed Simmons, and it’s gonna kill some more! I’d rather not give it  _ targets _ !”

The door beeped. Everyone turned to it in fear, watching it slowly open. I ran back from the screen, blocking Rose and Adam with my body.

“Miss, get behind-”

“Don’t.” I warned, glaring at Bywater.

The door to the Cage opened enough to let the Dalek out.

“Open fire!” Bywater shouted. He and De Maggio began firing at it. The Dalek moved forward, unaffected by the bullets.

_ “Don’t shoot it! I want it unharmed.” _ Van Statten whined.

I growled. “Rose, back up!”

The companion was frozen.  _ “Rose, Terra, get out of there!” _

I was able to get Rose to at least move into the adjacent hallway. Adam followed suit.

“De Maggio, take the civilians and get them out alive.” Bywater instructed. The Dalek moved towards the screen. “That is your job, got that?”

De Maggio nodded. She motioned to the three of us. “You, with me.”

She guided us down the hallway, but I kept looking back to the Cage. The Dalek was still sending out the signal. It was blaring louder than ever.

I gasped out in pain, clutching at my forehead. _ ‘My headband was missing! Damn it.’ _ The Dalek must be hacking into the Internet. It felt was than the direct electrocution from Simmons. My back slammed into the nearby wall, trying to fight the currents.

“Terra!” Rose called out, panicked. She came up to my side, trying to wrap her arm around me.

“Is she alright? Was she hit?” De Maggio asked.

“No. She was locked in the Cage.” Adam supplied. “We don’t know why.”

Rose brushed away some of my hair, trying to get a look at my face.

I shook my head, vision blurring with tears.  _ ‘Someone make this stop. Storyline, God, whatever-Time-Lords-pray-to. IDRIS MAKE IT STOP!’ _

“We have to keep moving.” De Maggio said. She motioned to Adam. “Help her up.”

The man did so. Rose held up my right side when Adam took my left. I was holding back any sort of pained sounds, not wanting to be called out for my pain.  _ ‘Stupid Terra. Why does everyone need to carry you around? Can’t you stand up for yourself, you fucking freak?’ _

In my mind, clearer than anything, I heard it. 

**_‘The Daleks survive in me!’_ **

 

==CON==

 

The pain stopped, but only just. Rose and Adam guided me through the block of guards ready to fire at the Dalek.

“Civilians! Let them through!”

I shoved myself out of their arms. No way was I going to be carried around like a baby. The two turned to me.

“Terra, we’ve gotta run!” Rose shoutedre.

“Rose, bullets aren’t gonna stop that Dalek!” I shouted back.

“We need to get to the Doctor! He’ll know what to do.” Rose said. I scoffed. “Just come on, please!”

The please is what got me. I took ahold of Rose’s hand to keep running. 

The sounds of gunfire followed us, and the sounds of the soldiers dying.

I focused on those I could save today. De Maggio was next on my list. Rose ran up to the stairwell like it was Utopia. “Stairs! That’s more like it.” The companion turned to Adam and I. “It hasn’t got legs. It’s stuck!”

My prepared argument was stopped by De Maggio. “It’s coming! Get up!”

The three of them climbed up. I made sure to stand just behind De Maggio as the Dalek rolled in.

“Great big alien death machine defeated by a flight of stairs.” Adam taunted.

“Get moving!” I shouted at the lot of them.

Adam snorted. “It can’t climb the stairs.”

I glared.  _ “And you think it didn’t fix that?!” _

Rose looked at me, confused. “What?”

“The Doctor said these Daleks fought him in a Time War. You really believe Time Lords could be defeated  _ by something that can’t get off the ground? _ ”

Rose fearfully looked down at the Dalek.  She didn’t know the Daleks were a part of the War. “Good point.”

“Mine usually are.” I grumbled. “Not that people listen.  **Now climb!** ”

Two of them went to climb. I walked over to De Maggio.

“Officer, retreat.” I ordered. De Maggio didn’t turn back. She kept her gun trained on the Dalek. “Bullets can’t stop this thing. We need to get moving.”

Nothing.

“Your job is keeping us alive. How can you do that if your dead?” I snapped.

“Someone’s got to try.” De Maggio argued.

“The others tried and they’re all dead.” I stated coldly.

_ That _ seemed to get through the soldier’s gear. She started running up the stairs, keeping her weapon trained on the Dalek until it was out of her range.

I looked down at the Dalek, saddened. It would follow us, and either Rose or myself would end up trapped with it.

“I’m sorry.” I said. “Really, really sorry.” 

The Dalek just stared back at me. “Elevate.” It said, almost like to spite me.

The Dalek began gliding up the stairs. It wasn’t rushing through it, instead walking like Jason. It was like he wanted us to be scared,  _ needed _ us to be scared.

“Oh my God.” Rose gasped.

“Keep moving!” I shouted, running after them. 

 

==CON==

 

De Maggio brought us into the large warehouse. The guards there all had weapons trained on us. My hand went to my side, then remembered any gun I would have was in my bag.  _ ‘I’m not in the right state of mind to fire anyway.’ _

“Civilians!” De Maggio shouted at them. “Let them through!”

The commander glared at us, annoyed. “Then get the hell out of there!”

De Maggio nodded, walking us past the barricade of soldiers. The four of us stopped at the end of the hall, watching as the Dalek rolled in.

Turning to Rose, I saw her and the Dalek staring intensely at each other. Adam grabbed Rose’s arm, trying to guide her away. De Maggio took mine.

“It was looking at me.” Rose commented.

“Yeah, it wants to slaughter us.” Adam argued.

“Exterminate us.” I corrected.

“Shut up! You’re not helping.” Adam said.

A part of me wanted to hiss at him. Another was hurt that he was right, I wasn’t helping. All these people were dying...there was nothing I could do.

“Leave her alone.” Rose defended me. “I know what it’s doing, but it was looking right at me.”

“So? It’s just a sort of metal eye thing.” Adam brushed her off. “It’s looking all around.”

Now, I was just doing it to annoy Adam. “Actually it could only look in one direction-”

“Shut up!” Adam barked at me.

“Stand down!” De Maggio warned. I grinned.  _ ‘Haha. He’s in trouble.’ _ There was a small bit of clarity.  _ ‘And now I’m being petty, I should be ashamed...I’m not, but I should be.’ _

“I don’t know.” The companion said. “It’s like there’s something inside, looking at me, like, like it knows me.”

We made it to floor 49 when I felt it. This thunderous voice, causing my hearts to beat sporadically in my chest.

**_“Why don’t you just die?”_ **

There was a long heavy pause after that. I choked on a gasp as the message cut off in my mind. DeMaggio lowered me to the ground, checking our perimeter.

Rose came to my side, hands on the side of my head. “She’s bleeding.” She pointed out, worriedly.

I lifted my armband to my nose, seeing I was indeed bleeding from my nose.

_ “You would make a good Dalek.” _

“We gotta get her to the Doctor.” The companion said, scared.

_ ‘Anyone but him.’ _

 

==CON==

 

Luck was not on my side  _ (has it ever?) _ because Rose’s phone rang. De Maggio was acting as my legs as we ran. Time Lord Biology had it’s pros, but bouncing back from having a Dalek rip itself from your mind wasn’t a thing.

I glared at the device, wanting to throw it at a wall. Mr. Maggo was still my friend, and today couldn’t completely wipe away the trust the two of us had. It didn’t strengthen it either.

I  _ begged  _ him not to. I told him the Dalek was in my mind, that I felt it’s pain. He pressed on, blasting the Dalek and I with whatever he could reach. He even pushed me to the ground to do it. Seriously, what happened?

Maybe he learned I was a Time Lady. He was so disappointed in what he got that maybe he just wanted me gone. It’s only fair, I’m not much of a Time Lady anyway. Especially not in this body. Her thighs were a bit thicker than most, even though I’m positive it’s muscle. Don’t even get me started on her face. I would want me gone too...

_ ‘Bitch, get that crap out of your head.’ _ An old conversation with Darcy floated back into my mind.  _ ‘Any body of your’s that has amber eyes is a good one. It’s the only way I can find you in a crowd.’ _

My sister may be bat shit crazy, but she had a point. My eyes were amber, just like always. The only part of me I could depend on, that’s good enough I guess.

Where was I? Right. Mad at Mr. Magoo.

“This isn’t the best time.” Rose grumbled into the phone. “Level forty eight.”

De Maggio was still helping me run. I knew that I didn’t have much time to cut her loose, so I ended up with the Dalek. We managed to make it up another floor.  _ ‘47.’ _

“De Maggio, I needed you to promise me something.” I said, soft enough so Rose wouldn’t hear.

The guard looked over at the others, marching us forward. “What?”

“Get Rose to the Doctor.” I said, holding back a grunt of pain. “Even if it means leaving me behind.”

De Maggio looked at me like I was mad.  _ ‘Level 46.’ _

“She’s the only person in this group that you should care about.” I said. Rose was still having her conversation with the Doctor, I was more focused on getting De Maggio to listen. “I can handle this. She can’t. Promise me you’ll get her to the Doctor.” The guard hesitated.

“Please.”

De Maggio looked down on the blood still under my nose, then over at Rose. Her and Adam were  _ so _ close to the bulkheads. De Maggio looked back at me, and nodded. She made sure I was steady on my feet before running over to help Rose.

I ran as best I could (glorified waking) towards the bulkhead.

The blonde ran with her, then slowed when she remembered the obvious problem. She looked back, still being dragged away by De Maggio.

I gave a tired wave, and too cheeky a smile. 

“No!” Rose shouted. She clapped her phone shit, stuffing it in one of her pockets. The companion tried reaching back for me, but De Maggio marched forward. “Let me go!” She shouted at De Maggio. “Go back! Let me go!”

There was a loud ringing sound. The bulk heads began to lower. I looked back, seeing the Dalek come out from the stairs.

I ran faster.

“Come on!” Adam called, rolling under the bulkhead.

De Maggio brought Rose, but she wouldn’t go without me.

“Rose,  _ GO _ !” I screamed at her.  _ ‘It was just a few yards away.’  _ “I’m coming!”

With teary brown eyes, Rose slid under the door. De Maggio looked back at me, and I shook my head. She followed Rose. Even if I wanted to, there wasn’t enough room for me.

“Terra!” Rose cried out as the bulkhead sealed.

My back fell against the bulkhead. My phone was ringing in my bag. With some difficulty, I pulled it out to see Mr. Magoo calling. I answered, gulping down my nerves. “Go for Yellow.”

_ “Terra, where are you? Terra, did you make it? Rose hung up.” _ The Doctor asked.

I snorted. The Dalek was coming closer, but I refused to show him fear. “I told De Maggio to get Rose over the line. Even if that meant leaving me.”

There was a heavy silence.  _ “Why?” _

_ ‘Cause De Maggio would actually  _ listen  _ when I said  _ please. _ ’  _ I bit my lip to keep that bite out.

“You get Rose out, ya here me?” I said, voice cracking. “You get back in your TARDIS and fly away. Anywhere, just not here, okay?”

_ “Terra-” _

“I never found out what I was.” I added, watching the Dalek get closer. Getting everyone to run up the stairs earlier gave me some more time. I let out a sad laugh. “How messed up is that?”

_ “What?” _

“I’m an alien. Never found my people.” I sighed, muscles still sore. “I thought...I thought traveling with you, maybe I could find them. Have that big reunion like they do on TV.”

Cause there was one of them here, someone like me. I knew that. It was the only way the box could be here. I didn’t bring it here, and I doubt I would ever want it in the hands of Van Statten, even if time depended on it. Someone like me brought the box here, sending a message.

It was why I came here. Not because of that box, because someone of my kind was here. I had seen them,  _ felt  _ them in my heart. That’s who I’m running to. She’s the person I’ve been searching nearly a century for.

“Guess I’ll never know.”  _ ‘As if she’d ever want to see me again anyway.’ _

_ “Terra listen-” _

“See you, then, Mr. Magoo,  _ Mrs. Doctor _ .” The nickname made me laugh again, another sad laugh. “It wasn’t your fault, either of you. Remember that. This one’s on me. It wasn’t your fault. And do you know what? You were terrific, Mr. Magoo.”

The Dalek raised the whisk.

“Just  _ terrific _ .”

“Exterminate!”

**_ZAP_ **

 

==CON==

 

They had done it again. Just when he thought they couldn’t, the Daleks took away his people again. He was the Last of the Time Lords,  _ again _ .

He had suspected Terra Johnson was an alien from the get go. The TARDIS had never let him run any scans on her, so he could never find out just what kind. The TARDIS must’ve been protecting them both. 

Terra knew about the Autons, and how to destroy their relay. She had found the TARDIS, despite his ship being hidden. She had that bag, the one covered in various colored buttons, the one that had to be just a  _ bigger on the inside.  _ She was too calm on Platform One, too accepting of the many aliens walking her path. She had figured out the Repeated Meme were fake all on her own. That proved Terra was of slightly higher intelligence.

Then he found out about her letter. What better reason to hunt someone down than being not of this Earth? He was proof of that. She had said she was alone, with only one friend out there. One phone call to all of time and space, and she didn’t use it for family. He should’ve known then she was like him, alone.

The Gelth came, and Terra proved smarter than him. She was always one step ahead, with everything. It was Charles Dickens’ carriage, the story was  _ The Signal Man _ , Gwyneth was the key to opening the rift, the Gelth were monsters bent on destroying everything. Not even a person with experience could have figured out  _ half _ of that. Terra Johnson was smarter than the Doctor.

Then came the Slitheen. Terra had been anxious from the start. That brilliant girl, who stared down a flap of skin and alien plastic without fear, was scared of a 999 call. She risked her life for a pig, having him fix Penelope up in his medbay. She was brave in the face of the Slitheen, and figured out their advert before he did. Yet she was still scared of  _ something _ , scared of whoever was texting her.

She told them about her own family. The ones that must have found her when she arrived on Earth. Murdered in front of her, by a man who then hunted her down because  _ she was the last Time Lady.  _ No chance he was going to just leave her behind after that. The orphan girl who was smarter than she let on, and who was scared because she lost her family. The girl who ran, because she had nothing else.

Terra Johnson was dead. The poor Time Tot hadn’t even known what she was. She didn’t know she was the Last of their kind, and he admitted to killing them all. She had telepathic abilities, it was the only way she could’ve felt the Dalek’s pain. She had been trapped in the same room as a Dalek because the Doctor had been angry, because he wanted someone else to blame. He could faintly remember her talking to him in the Cage. She had begged him to stop, to not hurt the Dalek. Well, now he could only blame himself. The Doctor killed the Time Lords again.

She wasn’t supposed to be here. She wasn’t supposed to be killed by a Dalek. She didn’t deserve any of this.

“I killed her.”

“I’m sorry.”

_ Well, hello there misplaced aggression. _

The Doctor glared at the billionaire. “I said I’d protect her. She was only here because of me, and you’re sorry? I could’ve killed that Dalek in it’s cell, but you stopped me.”

“It was the prize of my collection!” The computer genius argued, feebly.

“ **Your collection?** ” The Doctor was disgusted. Van Statten cared more about alien junk than Terra, than any of those people? “But was it worth it? Worth all those men’s deaths? Worth Terra? Let me tell you something, Van Statten. Mankind goes into space to explore, to be part of something greater.”

“Exactly!” Van Statten said. “I wanted to touch the stars!”

“You just want to drag the stars down and stick them underground, underneath tons of sand and dirt, and label them.” The Oncoming Storm yelled. “You’re about as far from the stars as you can get.”

_ ‘Are you  _ nuts _? Look, buddy, you don’t know what’s going on here.’ _

_ ‘Yep. That’s what I do with my spare time. Stalk creepy old men.’ _

_ ‘Aren’t guys your age in a retirement home?’ _

_ ‘Hey! This is my house! Get out!’ _

_ ‘The TARDIS got in Rose and I’s head, then changed it. That  _ is _ the bad way!’ _

_ ‘I lied. When I told you I lived with my friends. I don’t have friends.’ _

_ ‘No one would believe me. I’m just a kid. You said as much when we met.’ _

_ ‘I’m especially violent to those I’m closest to.’ _

_ ‘When I showed you my letter, I didn’t want your damn pity.’ _

_ ‘Forgive me if I’m not convinced.’ _

_ ‘It’s hiding behind a file cabinet. Sound deadly to you?’ _

_ ‘How do  _ we _ get  _ out _?’ _

_ ‘I take their ID or dog tags and bury that.’ _

_ ‘An advertisement.’ _

_ ‘Cause when he thinks, I feel my own IQ dropping by osmosis.’ _

_ ‘Nobody wants to hear me complain about my life.’ _

_ ‘Thank ya kindly.’ _

_ ‘You were terrific.’ _

_ ‘Alouette, gentille alouette. Alouette, he te plumerai.’ _

“And you took her down with you.” The Doctor said, feeling the loss of his people renew in his chest. “She was fifteen years old.”  _ A Time Tot, barely older than a newborn for us Time Lords. _

What was he going to do now?

 

==CON==

 

This was taking a lot longer than I thought.

I looked up at the Dalek. The whisk was aimed at the ground, where a scorch mark was inches away from me. Bracing myself against the bulkhead, I pushed my body to it’s feet.

“Go on then, kill me.” I challenged. It didn’t instead looking me in the eye. “Why’re you doing this?” I asked. “You were connected to Rose, not me. I’m weak, defenseless. Target practice to a Dalek.”

“I am armed. I will kill. It is my purpose.” The Dalek said, more as a reminder to itself.

I eyed it warily. Could it...Simmons suspected the connection worked both ways. It must have turned off the signal, resulting in my bloody nose. Could the Dalek actually  _ feel bad _ ? Just how much was Rose Tyler?

_ ‘What was the next line, exactly?’  _ “They’re all dead because of _ you _ .” I said, kinda wanting to see it’s response.

“They are dead because of _ Rose _ .” The Dalek corrected

“Don’t you  **dare** talk about her like that.” I growled, having to hold my own arm back.

“I feel your presence in my mind.” The Dalek went on.

I was confused. “What? No. You cut off the connection. I felt it. Gave me this bloody nose in the process.” To add emphasis, I pointed at the trail of blood.

The Dalek watched as I wiped the blood on my armband. I didn’t want to look like a disgusting mess. “The cellular regeneration warped my mind.” It explained, in it’s choppy way one syllable at a time way. “I have been reworked.”

I sighed, letting out a sad laugh. “Of course. My mind was responding to the message, you had that part of my mind in your’s. When Rose touched you, regenerated you, my mind left an imprint too. You can’t kill me anymore than you could kill her.”

“You care about the human.” The Dalek added. “You care about the Time Lord. You care about everyone in this place. They tortured you, and you still care for them.”

_ ‘If I made an enemy out of everyone who was mean to me, I would have gotten into way more trouble in elementary school.’ _

There was a pause. I leaned forward, quirking my eyebrow. “Do you?”

The Dalek paused, and I knew it’s answer. “I feel your shame.”

“What do you expect? I failed at my job.” I snapped. “I keep my friends happy, that’s the job. Couldn’t even do that without screwing up. Now Mr. Magoo up there thinks I’m dead, and Rose is probably full of guilt. Not to mention all the people who died because I tried to stop the Doctor.”

“Daleks do not feel.  **Must not** feel.” The Dalek shot at the other sides of the bulkhead door. I stood there, boredly waiting for it to stop the little tantrum.  _ ‘Okay,  _ that _ it got from Rose’s DNA.’  _ “Rose Tyler gave me life. What have you given me? I am contaminated.”

“Sorry.” I told it, that stupid empathy coming back. “You got my capacity for guilt too-”

“Daleks do not feel guilt!” The Dalek shouted.

“You think I don’t know that!” I hissed. “But neither of us have a choice now!”

The Dalek raised the whisk. My lips clamped shut, half glaring at the Dalek.

“Walk!” It ordered.

I did so, though it was more of stumbling in the right direction. My body had been healing, but everything was sore. My right heart was a bit slower since it nearly stopped in the electrocution, so that might’ve been a problem.

The Dalek made me stand in sight of the camera. I put on a smile, though it was pained.

“Open the bulkhead or Terra dies.” The Dalek warned.

His voice was coming out of the camera. Couldn’t see his face, but then again, did I want to?  _ “You’re alive!” _ The Doctor said, sounding relieved.

_ ‘Only on the outside. Haha.’ _ “Think so, yeah.”

_ “Oh my God, Terra! What were you thinking?” _ Rose shouted.

“I was trying to save your life.” I argued, tiredly.

_ “I thought you were dead.”  _ The Doctor remarked.

“You’re not the first.” I scoffed.

“Open the bulkhead!” The Dalek ordered.

“Ignore it!” I shouted.

“What use are emotions if you will not save the last of your kind?”

There was a bit of hesitation on my part as the Dalek’s meaning came to me. It had just told the Doctor I was a Time Lord, and from his perspective I didn’t know about them until I met him. “S-Sorry, the what?” I asked, glancing back to the Dalek.

“Face forward!” The Dalek shouted.

I did, looking up at the Doctor. “Doctor, is he telling the truth?” I lied, already knowing the answer but having to play my part. Future Me said the Doctor only found out that day about what I was, and I couldn’t risk a paradox.

There was silence on the other end. _ “I killed her once. I can’t do it again.” _

The bulkhead opened with that ringing sound. I gulped, realizing now the Doctor knew I was Time Lord and now I  _ ‘knew’ _ too. We were in for a fun talk when we got out of this.

 

==CON==

 

The Dalek took me into the elevator. I briefly had the thought that elevation must drain his batteries, or something.

Looking down at it’s whisk, I saw it shaking. There was none of that stone cold killing I saw earlier. The longer it had with Rose and I in it’s head, the the further it drifted into insanity.

“You don’t need to do this, you know.” I said to it. If it  _ did _ have my guilt, and heart, then it would hated killing just for killing’s sake.  “Those men that died downstairs can be where the killing stops. You didn’t kill me.”

“But why not?” The Dalek asked, obviously devolving. It rotated the eyestalk so it was a breadths away from me. “Why are you alive? My function is to kill. What am I? What am I?”

_ ‘There’s more of Rose and I in there than actual Dalek.’ _ I thought.  _ ‘Best not to tell him that.’ _

I stood back in my corner of the elevator, wishing this thing had elevator music.  _ ‘Gitchee gitchee goo means that I love you.’  _ I hummed under my breath.

Of course, at that moment, the doors opened...

...and Van Statten had made himself a perfect target.

“Don’t move. Don’t do  _ anything _ .” I hissed at him. “It’s beginning to question itself.”

The Dalek rolled forward. The computer genius backed away, rightfully scared. “Van Statten. You tortured me, tortured  _ us _ . Why?”

“I wanted to help you.” Van Statten lied. I was angry, but brushed it off.  _ Bigger picture, T, bigger picture.  _ “I just, I don’t know. I was trying to help. I thought if we could get through to you, if we could mend you. I wanted you better. I’m sorry. I’m so sorry!” The man caved as his back hit the wall. “I swear,  _ I just wanted you to talk!” _

I made my way around the Dalek, being careful not to catch his attention. I motioned for Goddard to stay there and quiet, hopefully that would calm her down.

“Then hear me talk now.”  _ Dalek sass.  _  “Exterminate! Exterminate!  **Exterminate** !”

“Don’t do it! Don’t kill him!” I shouted, leaping in front of the whisk. If the Dalek had eyes it would be glaring at me. “He’s not worth it! You don’t have to do this anymore.” I assured, stepping closer, holding out my hand to placate it. “There must be something else, not just killing. What else is there? What do you want?”

The Dalek didn’t respond. It just lowered it’s whisk.

“You know what is it.” I said, almost stern. “Just say it.”

“I want freedom.” The Dalek said.

Yet off in another room, I knew the Doctor was getting a gun to keep the Dalek from being free. I didn’t know Rose was with him, telling him not to do it, that I was safe, the Dalek hadn’t killed me.

The Doctor wasn’t listening to her. I didn’t know he was grabbing the biggest gun so he could get revenge.

I just knew the Doctor would do anything to kill this Dalek.

 

==CON==

 

*BOOM*

The pieces of the roof fell to the ground with no ceremony. It was a bit boring to be honest. I winced at the sudden brightness of the sun, but adjusted. It felt nice on my aching body. Maybe Idris would have something for me when I got back.

_ ‘Hopefully mixed with whiskey.’ _ “You’re out. You made it.” I said to the Dalek.

It stared up at the sky. I sighed, looking back up to the St. Louis sky.

“I remember when I was like you.” The Dalek turned to me, probably thinking nothing could be like it. “Trapped for fifty years in darkness, driven insane by your own existence. You were forced to be the exact opposite of who you are.” I soaked up the sunlight, humming in contentment. “I never thought I’d feel the sunshine again. I guess it’s nice to help give it back to you.”

“...how does it feel?”

“Terrific.” I laughed, feeling as freeing as after the  _ 30 Days _ .

The Dalek shell opened, revealing the little mutant inside. Call me giddy, but I couldn’t help but think it was adorable. Yeah, even with those weird little skin blotches. I stood in front of it to get a better look. It was shaking it’s tentacles, getting any available sunlight that it could.  _ ‘Okay. Two’s love of animal life is taking a turn.’ _

“Get out of the way.” A stern Northern voice ordered. My body locked up at the harsh tone, not looking back to see him. “Terra, get out of the way **now** !”

_ ‘Last time I did that for you, I was electrocuted.’ _ With that thought, I turned to face him. I was momentarily stunned to see holding that big gun in my direction. Rose was behind him, looking in the same state of mind that I was. “No.” I snapped. “I’m not letting you do this!” I gestured to the big gun, looking at the Doctor incredulously.

The Oncoming Storm pointed at the Dalek with his gun. “ **_That thing_ ** killed hundreds of people.”

I crossed my arms, staring with disappointment. “It’s not the one pointing  _ the gun _ at me.”

Rose turned away from the Doctor, looking anywhere else but him.

My words had no effect on the alien himself. “I’ve got to do this. I’ve got to end it.” The Oncoming Storm stressed. He kept his eyes on the Dalek, who was still peacefully looking up at the sunlight. “The Daleks destroyed our home, our  **people** .” He glared, it was looking like a snarl. “I’ve got  **nothing** left.”

_ ‘Ignoring that jab at me at the end.’  _ “Look at it.” I ordered, stepping aside so he could get a better view.

The Last of the the Almighty Time Lords looked at it curiously. “What’s it doing?”

“It just wants some sunshine.” I explained, talking down to the alien. “That all it wanted, just sunshine. It couldn’t kill Van Statten, it  _ couldn’t  _ kill me! It’s changing. What about you, _ Mr. Magoo _ ? What the hell have _ you _ changed into?”

This seemed to do the trick. The Doctor had regret on his face, looking between the Dalek, myself. “I couldn’t.” He looked back to see Rose avoiding eye contact. “I wasn’t.” He lowered the gun. “Oh, Terra, Rose. They’re all dead.” The Doctor looked back to me. “We’re all that’s left.”

I sucked in a pain breath, feeling my eyes water. My eyes went down to my sneakers, not able to keep up with the Doctor anymore. My worst fear was that I’d be the Last of my Kind. I guess the Story had a sense of humor, making me a Time Lady.  _ ‘I should really stop thinking about what makes me scared, especially when I first enter a world. That never goes well.’ _

“Why do we survive?” The Dalek asked.

“I don’t know.” The Doctor answered honestly.

The Dalek accepted that. “I am the last of the Daleks.”

“You’re not even that. Rose did more than regenerate you.” The Doctor said, resigned. “You’ve absorbed her DNA. You’re mutating.”

“He has my mind too.” I said, my voice barely above a whisper. “The connection thing, my headaches, they were still happening when the Dalek restored. He had my thoughts in his mind. He’s got my capacity for guilt, and my-” I cut myself off.

“Your what?” Rose asked.

I  could look her in the eyes. “My heart. That was why it didn’t kill me, cause it had my heart. It’s more us than Dalek.” I looked back to the Dalek, feeling a tear fall out onto my cheek. “You’re something new. I’m sorry.”

“Isn’t that better?” Rose asked the Doctor.

“Not for a Dalek.”

“I can feel so many ideas. So much darkness.” The Dalek said. I winced, curling my arms around myself. “Rose, give me orders. Order me to die.”

“I can’t do that.” The companion said under her breath.

“You can’t.” I said, walking around to face the Dalek. “But I can.”

“This is not life. This is sickness.” The Dale pleaded. “I  _ shall not _ be like  _ you _ . Order my destruction!  **Obey! Obey! Obey!** ”

I stood at attention, saluting. “Soldier, we are more alike than I want to admit. Fifty years of darkness, and a single day of sunshine. The only difference is that your darkness ends today.” I kept my salute. “Soldier, I order you to self terminate.”

The Dalek seemed relieved at the command. “Are you frightened, Rose Tyler?”

“Yeah.” She whimpered, about to cry by the sounds of it.

“So am I.” He turned to me, “And are you?”

“No.” I admitted simply. I was scared that the Doctor would abandon me. I was scared Logan would find me. I was constantly scared that future would change and I wouldn’t even know it.

The Dalek accepted this. “Exterminate.”

I backed away as it rose into the air. The orbs on it’s casing floated off, creating a shield around it. With teary eyes, I watched the Dalek blow itself up.

“You aren’t fifteen, are you?” The Doctor asked.

I turned my head back, looking into his blue eyes. I let my walls down, letting my real age show. He kept my gaze, however ashamed it made him. I looked away first, marching towards the hallway with the TARDIS.

There was a home box with my name on it... _ literally. _

 

==CON==

 

It was still there.

With the chaos of the Dalek, and the Doctor’s going batshit, and people dying, and everything going wrong, it was still there. The home box. I could take it right now, they weren’t gonna need it. The alarms weren’t in place. If this place was shutting down, then so would the alarms. I could just grab it and go. It could give me answers as to what happened to my family. They could be looking for me.

But what would I do? Go and find them? Send them a message, telling them to drop it? When has  _ that _ ever worked?

Still...why was it even in the  _ Whoniverse _ ? Objects don’t change realities, not unless Darcy or I bring them in. I was dead, so there was no chance for that, and if Darcy so much as looked at that place I would punch her in the throat.

One other person would have...one other person would have stolen this box. She would have done just about anything... _ Sasha _ ...

I needed that box. My box, with my name and Pops’ name forever carved in the black metal. A name I only barely felt connected to anymore. Mahina Jookiba died, and dozens of personas had taken her place.  _ Terra  _ had taken her place.

My arms went to work taking off my purple tunic, bunching it around my right arm. Who knows how long I had until Mr. Magoo and Mrs. Doctor came back. With a great sweep swing, my arm crashed into the glass. Shards fell all around the display, a few falling into the alien words. I pulled the box out, being mindful of any shards in my tunic and the box itself.

It was cold. Not that surprising for a metal box, but this box shouldn’t be cold. It should be back with Pops and Pleakley and Lilo and Stitch and safe. My family is safe, they should have been safe.

“Terra?!” Rose called out, running up in the hall.

I pulled the shirt off my arm, shaking it out to get any more glass shards out. The human girl ran to me, but my arms wrapped around the box like a child about to lose their favorite toy.

“What are you doin’?” Rose gaped, looking at the broken display and then at me.

I hugged the box, feeling emotionally exposed right now. The edges of the metal nearly dug cuts into my skin. This was  _ my _ box,  _ my _ family,  _ my _ problem. “Back away, Rose.” I warned her.

“Terra, I’m worried.”

“This box is my problem.” I said, heaving it up.

The letters were proudly standing out against the box. They were like those words from _ The Impossible Planet _ , except I knew what these were. I could find out if they searched for me, I could find out if they found us, I could know that they were okay. I could have peace about my ohana.

The Doctor walked up to my side. I held to box tighter, not wanting him to give some bullshit reason for me to hand it over. This was _ Pops _ , and I would  _ always  _ put my family first.

“Terra.” The Doctor began.

“Magoo.” I cut him off, my voice weak like I had been crying. Which I hadn’t been. Even if I had, I would deny it.

“You built that?” The Doctor said, sounding awkward.

“Yes.” I stated coldly. “It was a gift for...” My fingers worked themselves along the words of Pops’ name. “For someone important.”

I could remember the look on Pops’ face when he saw the ship all ready to go after five years grounded. I might as well have given him gold. Pops had taught me how to fly the ship, the two of us flew over the planet making crop circles. Nani  _ hated _ when we made crop circles, which only made it more fun.

“Family?” The Doctor asked.

“Ohana.” Was my tart reply. “Better than family.  _ Bigger _ than family.”

“Like the Johnsons?” The Doctor asked.

“They found me when I-” I cut myself off, not wanting to see the haunting images of their death. “It doesn’t matter. They’re all dead.”

The Time Lords were dead. The Daleks were dead. The Johnsons were dead. My first faces were dead. My ohana’s probably dead too.  _ ‘Why do we survive?’ _ Storyline, if only I knew.

“I didn’t know it was in your mind.” The Doctor apologized.

“It’s-” I cut myself off before I said _ okay. _ “You couldn’t have known. Even I didn’t put it together until a few seconds before-” I winced.

There was a heavy pause. “You nearly gave your life up for Rose.”

“I’ve nearly gotten her killed before, I wasn’t about to let it happen again.” I argued. “Are we gonna keep having this circular conversation, or are you just gonna say it?” A pause. “I didn’t know I was a Time Lord. I don’t  _ remember _ being a Time Lord. I don’t _ remember _ the Time War, or our planet, or if I had a mother and father, or maybe two dads or two moms or if I had siblings or if I was an only child or if I had pet or an imaginary friend or if I had  _ regular  _ friends. I can’t remember if I had a big house with a field, or a small shack in an alleyway.”

I turned to the Doctor, letting tears fall. “For the first time in a while,  _ I don’t know anything. _ ”

The Doctor reached over, pulling me in for a hug. I felt Rose join in after a second. For the first time that day, I willingly let the other tears fall out. I let myself have a cry, even thought I felt like I was choking.

This went on for about a minute. I wiped my eyes with my tunic sleeve, letting out a bittersweet laugh. “Sorry about the info dump.” I sniffled.

“After the day you had, you needed it.” The Doctor assured. I snorted, holding the box to my second heart. “Here. Let’s get that to the TARDIS.”

“R-Really?” I said, looking up at him.

The Doctor shrugged. “Course. You said it was your’s, why shouldn’t you get to keep it?”

“I thought...I thought.” A thankful smile came to my face. “I thought you would tell me to leave it.”

Rose put her hand on my shoulder. I looked to her, smiling so hard it was almost sore. “Come on, before he gets himself lost.” She teased.

I laughed, feeling weights lift off my shoulders with each chuckle. It wasn’t even that funny, but it was good to feel something other than sadness and pain.

The Doctor walked over to the TARDIS. Rose and I were a few steps behind him. I noticed with joy that Rose had the letters  _ P  _ and  _ F _ on the back of her jacket. That was actually pretty funny.  _ ‘Get it? Like Phineas and Ferb? Storyline, I had that the show won’t exist for three more years. It was amazing.’ _

I was holding my home box like dropping it would kill me. No, it  _ would _ kill me. Sure, I could repair it in no time at all but there was no telling if the software would be damaged or scratched on the impact. Then again, it was built to withstand any sort of crash...

“A little piece of home. Better than nothing.” The Doctor said, rubbing a hand on the TARDIS.

“I’m all for that.” I said, my voice still soft after the cry fest.

“Is that the end of it, the Time War?” Rose asked the Doctor.

“We’re the only ones left.” The Doctor said, not really sounding like a  _ no _ or a  _ yes _ . He laughed lifelessly. “We win. How about that?”

“Sometimes winning is losing, and losing is winning.” I found myself saying. “Rule 31.”

“You really like those rules of your’s.” The Doctor remarked

“They keep me up at night.” I said. The Doctor grinned. “Wait...that’s not a good thing, is it?”

“The Dalek survived, and Terra apparently.” Rose tried to be reassuring. “Maybe some of your people did too.”

_ Dundundundun. Dundundundun. _

“I’d know. In here.” The Doctor tapped the side of his head. He looked curiously at me “Which brings up a good point. Feels like there’s no one.”

“Same.” I said, not loosening my hold on the box. “What could be causing that?”

“Don’t know.” The Doctor paused, then grinned. Maybe it was the sadness fading away, but I swear I saw hope in his eyes. “Yet.”

“Well then, good thing I’m not going anywhere.” Rose said.

“Yeah.” The Doctor smiled.

“That’s my house. I’m not letting him leave with her.”

“She’s not your TARDIS!” The Doctor argued, though there wasn’t any force behind it.

“Denial is not just a river in Egypt.” I reminded him.

“Is that another one of your rules?” The Doctor teased, bringing out his key.

I snorted. “No, it’s a common Earth phrase. Keep up, Magoo.” Rose laughed. “On don’t think you’re off scot free,  _ concubine _ .”

That made Rose have to hold her stomach, she was laughing so hard.  _ ‘Keep my friends smiling. I think I’m getting back on track with that promise.’ _

Low and behold, the next in a long line of the idiots walked up. The  _ Door-In-The-Head _ ran up to us.

“We’d better get out.” I rolled my eyes, reaching up for my key. _ ‘Nope. I’m done. Clocking out. Packing up my shit. Hasta luego, amigos. Fairfarren.’ _ “Van Statten’s disappeared. They’re closing down the base.” I slid my key into the lock, wanting to get in an avoid Adam. “Goddard says they’re going to fill it full of cement, like it never existed.”

Rose snorted. “About time.”

“I’ll have to go back home.” Adam said, like it was the worst thing that could be done to him.

“Better hurry up then.” The Doctor said with false sadness. I threw a mock frown to Adam myself, wanting him to leave. Screw the fact we needed him for  _ Long Game,  _ I still want him _ gone _ ! “Next flight to Heathrow leaves at fifteen hundred hours.”

“Adam was saying that all his life he wanted to see the stars.” Rose hinted.

“Tell him to go and stand outside, then.” The Doctor stated.

“On his way to the airport.” I added. Merciful Story, why isn’t Idris opening the door!

“He’s all on his own, Doctor, and he did help.” Rose pressed.

“He left Terra down there.”

“So did you.”

“Don’t care.” I told Rose. “He’s not coming in my box.”

“What’re you talking about?” Adam asked. “We’ve got to leave.”

The Doctor gave Adam a look. “Plus, he’s a bit pretty.”

Rose shrugged it off. “I hadn’t noticed.”

The Doctor and I shook our heads. “On your own head.”

The beautiful blue door finally opened. I ran inside and felt a loving warmth fill my mind. Without any hesitation, I ran to the back of the TARDIS.

“Terra?” The Doctor called out.

“Putting it in my room!”

“Why’re you doing that?”

“We’re taking that idiot somewhere. I don’t wanna lose this thing!”

“What’re you doing? She said cement.” Adam called out. “She wasn’t joking. We’re going to get sealed in.”

I ignored him, holding the box tighter.  _ ‘We deal with Adam, and then I find out what happened to my ohana. I’ve made it a hundred and forty years, I can wait another few hours right? _

_...who the hell am I kidding?’ _


	10. The Long Game

The box was sitting on my desk, taunting me. I wanted to see what happened, but there were all of these negatives thoughts. What if they were lost? What if they hadn’t come looking for me and this was stolen? What if they were  _ dead _ ? What if they  _ weren’t _ ?

There were dozens of other ideas, and none of them were good ones. I eventually convinced myself it was better to wait for when Adam wasn’t on the TARDIS. I put on a new tunic, and grabbed a headband the TARDIS gave me. I made sure my bag was still there, and all of the buttons. My lollipop necklace and TARDIS key were hanging from my neck, safe and sound. I even fixed the chip in my nails.

My body was somewhat sore, which should wear off in a couple hours I hope. There was no time to rest, to get a long night of sleep in my bunk bed.  _ Long Game  _ was needed first, the job was needed first. I had to get back on track. I lifted a hand up to my chest, feeling my first heart beating then moved to the second. The four beats that I had been used to for two months, now felt odd and misplaced. Like me.

When I put on my jeans and, I stared at the strands of choppy and short brown hair.  _ ‘Brown...my Fourth self will have black. Suppose that’s a plus. I only have to die  _ _ twice _ _ , or I could just go Home.’  _ I looked down at my body, like seeing it for the first time. I had some curves, though they were mostly at my hips. My arms were a bit on the muscular side, and not to mention my spotty freckles.

My room lacked mirrors, though it didn’t take a genius to figure out why. Mirrors had not been my friend in the  _ 30 _ , every reflection tinted red with blood and covered with sharp jagged teeth. Some days, I was scared that if I looked into one I would see  _ her _ .

More than that, I didn’t exactly like the body I was in... _ any _ body I was in. Despite trying to shake them off, Van Statten’s opinion of me stuck.  _ ‘I dug myself deep into a pit of despair. Who knows how long until I can crawl back out.’ _

Why was I having all these doubts and stuff now? I shouldn’t be...I should be out there in the console room being my proud and unusual self. I wasn’t a victim, I was strong. I wasn’t a nothing, or a freak.

“My name is Terra Johnson.” I said to myself, staring at the homebox. It was one of those rare Jumps where I had complete confidence in who I was, and what I did. “I’m a Time Lady.”  _ ‘Storyline, I think that’s the first time I’ve said it out loud.’ _ “I’m Terra Johnson. I’m a Time Lady.”

It was like I was trying to convince myself of it. I had known for months I was a Time Lady, yet saying it out loud made it real. I wasn’t a Jumper, I was a Time Lady. I wasn’t...my old self, I was Terra Johnson.

I wanted to call Darcy, the only person I could talk to about this. She would understand, it’s something we’ve both felt it before. I couldn’t, because I don’t think I could tell her what happened. Darcy was a bit overzealous when she hears I’m in trouble. She’ll definitely show up here just to beat the shit out of the Doctor, then Rose just for fun.

_ ‘I don’t even like the name Johnson. I just chose it randomly.’ _ I thought, holding the bag strap as I walked towards the console room.  _ ‘Darcy’s probably laughing at how I have  _ ‘dick’  _ in my name. Witch.’ _

When I came back, the Doctor had just landed. Adam was still looking around the console room in shock. Rose was laughing, smiling up at the rotor.

The Doctor and I had a brief moment of eye contact. I looked down at my sneakers, my hands stuffing in my front jean pockets. 

The Doctor was making sure we were good to go. Adam was still distracted, so the Doctor motioned for Rose and I to follow him. The three of us slipped out.

I let out a slow breath when I stepped down. The Time Sense came and went with no consequence, much to my relief. Also a relief, that I wasn’t wearing the hoodie in this heat. It was surreal seeing the room in person rather than on TV, but if not for the heat I wouldn’t mind it.

The Doctor leaned close to us. “So, it’s two hundred thousand, and it’s a spaceship.” He glanced around. Once he was sure, he leaned back down. “No, wait a minute, space station, and er, go and try that gate over there. Off you go.”

“Two hundred thousand?” Rose asked. She turned to me. “Terra, is he right?”

I nodded. “And it’s a July.” I licked my thumb, holding it out. “Saturday.” My thumb was then immediately wiped onto my jean leg, as I hadn’t fully considered having spit on my thumb.

The Doctor gave me a brief look. I tapped my forehead, shrugging.  _ ‘Genius. What can you do?’ _ He only smiled, proud. That made me smile in return.

Rose, who I expected to be weirded out by the addition, only smiled in pleasant surprise. “Right.” She pulled the TARDIS door open, her and the Doctor chuckling. “Adam, out you come.” The companion said, opening the door wider for him.

The tech gaped at the scenery. “Oh my God.”

“Don’t worry, you’ll get used to it.” Rose assured.

The Doctor and I were exchanging smiles at Adam’s expense. There was no real reason for me to dislike Adam, as he hadn’t betrayed us yet. He was the one that helped Rose get me out of the Cage, I should be grateful.

It came to me quickly. He wasn’t part of our group. He was a stranger, someone who we had literally met two hours ago. I had been exposed as a Time Lady, the Last of the Doctor’s kind, been under the same torture as the Dalek. He showed Rose the video feed of the Dalek and I being tortured. Adam had seen me at weak points, and I hated that a stranger had seen those parts of me. Rose and the Doctor, they were people I trusted not to use them against me.

Adam, well, look at where we’ll end up. How can I trust the guy who broke some of the simplest rules? Hadn’t he seen  _ Back to the Future _ ?

“Where are we?” Adam asked, dumbstruck.

“Good question. Let’s see.” Rose said, with false superiority. She clapped her hands together, acting like a pro. It was kinda funny to see her acting like the Doctor. “So, um... judging by the architecture, I’d say we’re around the year two hundred thousand, definitely July, maybe even a Saturday.”

Adam nodded and mumbled an affirmative, still shocked at everything. I cracked a smile when Rose referenced my added information. 

“If you listen...” The companion was doing this effortlessly.  _ ‘Where was this ability when the Sycorax invaded?’  _ “Engines.”

_ ‘Please, oh wise one, tell us more.’ _ I thought, using my left arm to support my right elbow. I put my right fist over my mouth to make it look like I was in thought, but really I was holding back chuckles.

“We’re on some sort of space station. Yeah. Definitely a space station.” She nodded, as Adam tried to wrap his head around Idris. “It’s a bit warm in here, they could turn the heating down.”

At the mention of the heat, I pulled at the collar of my tunic. It wasn’t close to my neck, but the dark purple still made it warm.  _ ‘Wish I knew how to regulate my body temperature. That needs to be one of the things Magoo explains first.’ _

“Tell you what, let’s try that gate. Come on!” Rose said, walking in the direction Doc had suggested earlier.

I followed behind her and Adam, the Doctor by my side. She pulled the wire gate open, revealing an observation room similar to Platform One. I was given a wonderful view of Earth, this time it wasn’t covered in flames.

“Here we go! And this is.” She paused, probably as awe inspired as I was. “I’ll let the Doctor describe it.”

And like the show off he was, the Doctor stepped right into  _ ‘Time Lord Teacher’ _ mode. He walked up to the window, me in the middle of him and Adam. “The Fourth great and bountiful Human Empire.” The Doctor said dramatically. “And there it is, planet Earth at it’s height. Covered with mega-cities, five moons, population ninety six billion.”

I smiled in delight, my arms now hanging loosely on my sides. For a second, I felt like everything was normal again. I was me, going to wild places and seeing seemingly impossible things.

“The hub of a galactic domain stretching across a million planets, a million species, with mankind right in the middle.” The Doctor said, feeling proud of the ‘ _ stupid apes _ ’.

Until one such ape fell on his side, with a little whimpering gasp too.

I stared forward at the Earth, my lips quirking into a smile. “And then there were three. Terrific.”

“He’s your boyfriend.” The Time Lord commented.

“Not anymore.” The companion mumbled.

 

==CON==

 

It was maybe three seconds later that Rose began what I hadn’t even realized I’d been dreading.

“You said you were a Time Lady.” Rose began.

“A Dalek said that, and Magoo confirmed, but sure.” I shrugged while still staring out at the Earth, my hands now holding my bag strap with nervousness.

Rose winced a bit at the mention of the Dalek. “Yeah...but, that means you’re like the Doctor.”

“I assume so.”

Rose smiled, a tongue on tooth smile. I briefly wondered why the Doctor wasn’t helping out here. “So, how old are you?”

“Kinda rude to ask a Time Lady that.” I said, scratching at my neck.

Rose poked at my arm. “Come on. We’ve got nothing better to do til Adam wakes up.”

The Doctor leaned in, walking over to Rose’s side. He made sure not to step on Adam. “Come on, Terra Johnson, it can’t be that bad. Not as old as 900.”

He had a point. “179.” I answered, feeling my cheeks heat up. Rose’s jaw dropped, then she started laughing. Not sure if that was a good thing or bad. “Turning 180 in a couple months-weeks?-months?-weeks? Months.” I snapped my fingers when I remembered. “It’s in two months.”

My traveling companions were surprised. “179?” The Doctor asked.

“Yes.” My blush was coming back. Man, I wish I had known about the memory issues before. I had dug myself a deep hole, and only I could get myself out of it.

“You said you were from the South.” Rose asked, laughter fading. She had obviously been confused about this since she found out I had two hearts, whenever that was in all the chaos. “And, and when you and him left to get Penelope you said  _ it was like home _ .”

“It’s the only place I remember living.” I said, nervously. “And it...the home thing was just a lie to try and get out of there.”

The blonde frowned, as if remembering a trauma. “You said your family died, the Johnsons.”

And just like that, my eyes were watering. “Yeah.”

“Were they Time Ladies?” Rose asked, softly.

“Human.” Was my whispered reply. “Human family, of human people. They must’ve taken me in when I came to Earth. I wouldn’t know much more.”

“You said you didn’t remember things, back at the museum.” The Doctor reminded me.

“I...I forgot some stuff...along the way.” I gulped away the emotions, looking down at my tunic and jeans. “Like, my home on Earth, and the one on...and the one on...”

“Gallifrey.” The Doctor supplied, sounding downtrodden at my story.

“Yes. That. Thank ya kindly. No memory of that one.” I couldn’t even say the planet’s name.  _ ‘My name is Terra Johnson, and I’m a Time Lady from...from...I can’t even say it in my head.’ _ “Remember everything else, just nothing that was...home.”

Rose was sorry at my explanation.  _ ‘What must it be like to have nothing, not even memories to visit in the middle of the night?’ _ The Doctor wasn’t any better.

“But, you said you were 179.” The Doctor asked, still surprised at my age. “How can you remember that?”

“I didn’t spend it all at home.” I explained simply, putting my hands in my jean pockets. “I spent most of it-”

It was of course at this point  _ young Adam Mitchell _ woke up. It took him a moment to realize it hadn’t been a dream, that he was in 200,000 with two aliens and his companion.

The Time Lord jumped back on track, anything about our conversation gone on his face. The stoic Ninth Doctor. Adam was shell shocked, only making me angrier. I walked on Rose’s side, even when the Doctor draped his arms around the two humans.

“Come on, Adam. Open your mind.” He encouraged, guiding them back into the main room. “You’re going to like this.  _ Fantastic _ period of history. The human race at its most intelligent. Culture, art, politics. This era has got fine food, good manners-”

_ “Out of the way!” _ A man shouted, bumping into my arm. It sent me back, almost making me bump into Rose.

I fixed my sleeve as more people filled the area. “Yeah, these  _ are _ good manners, Magoo.”

The chefs opened up the food kiosk, filling the room with the smell of grease and smoke.  _ Story _ , it was like a barbeque. My mouth was watering, especially when I caught sight of some of the kronk burgers they had out in the display. I followed Rose to get a closer look, and saw all other sorts of foods that looked vaguely like ones in present day.

“Fine cuisine?” Rose teased the Doctor.

“This is more like Manhattan on a good day.” I grinned.  _ ‘I need 200,000 money. My body is demanding one of those burgers.’ _

Rose gave me a curious look. She was probably going to be asking me questions about the 179 years of my life that I did know about. I’ll admit, I was looking forward to about 129 of them  _ (no way am I telling her about the 50 years or when I was Mahina) _ .

The Time Lord was confused by this. “My watch must be wrong.” He raised his watch up to his ear, shaking it lightly. I shut my eyes, breathing slowly. My Time Sense was the same thing it was earlier, including the bit about July. “No, it’s fine. It’s weird.”

“That’s what comes of showing off.” She even smiled cheekily at me.

“Don’t blame me.” I defended myself, lifting my hands to my chest in a defensive position. “I’m still figuring this Time Lady thing out.”

Rose’s cheeky smile shook at that. “Terra, I’m not blaming you for that.” She said softly. It changed back to a mischievous smile. She nodded her head at the Doctor. “I’m blaming him.”

“Oh, then please go on.” I smirked, looking back to the greasy food.  _ ‘The sooner they argue, sooner we get the cash card, and then get greasy food.’ _

“Your history’s not as good as you thought it was.” The  _ concubine _ teased. 

“My history’s perfect.”  _ Mister Magoo _ stated. He tried tapping on the glass of his watch.

Rose snorted. “Well, obviously not.”

“How does that work?” I asked, leaning over to get a look at his watch.

The Doctor pulled back his wrist, showing me his watch. “Changes time depending on the time zone I walk into.”

I nodded. “O...kay. Why not just use Time Sense?”

The Doctor frowned. “The what?”

“The time sense. That thing where you can tell where and when you are just by walking in that time period?” His expression was still blank. “You’re supposed to know more about this than I am.” I stated, annoyed.

The Doctor suddenly smirked. Were he and Rose doing this on purpose? They were goading me on, encouraging me to further use my  _ newfound _ Time Lady side. I didn’t find it funny. “I could use it anytime. This is just a really good watch.”

I gave him a flat look.

“How’d you know what it was called?” The Doctor asked, grinning just a bit.

“It was a sense, that involved Time. It’s a  _ no brainer _ .” I shrugged. And just because of his grin, I added “Like you.”

The Doctor dropped his jaw. “Oi!” Rose laughed. The two of us high fived.

“Thank ya kindly. I’m actually really proud of that one.” I chuckled.

“They’re all human.”  _ ‘Take a hint, Adam! Go away!’ _ My scowl was back, going straight to the now paler Adam. He was still scanning the crowd of people, which had grown in our conversation. “What about the millions of planets, the millions of species? Where are they?” 

“Good question.” The Doctor said, probably trying to be sarcastic. Then, him and I scanned the crowd. No beings with tentacle arms, or extra eyes, or skin colors of the rainbow. “Actually, that  _ is _ a good question.” The Time Lord walked up to the temporary passenger, slinging an arm over his shoulder. “Adam, me old mate, you must be starving.”

“No, I’m just a bit time sick.” Adam brushed off.

“ _ I’m  _ actually hungry. I could use something to eat.” I smiled at Adam, hands in my pockets. “Be a sport. Grab me something.”

“See that? Terra needs a bit of grub. Be a gentleman.” He dragged Adam to the kiosk. Rose watched this all with confusion. “Oi, mate- how much is a kronkburger?” He asked the chef.

“Two credits twenty, sweetheart.” The chef replied curtly, pointing to the line. “Now join the queue.”

“Money. We need money.” The Doctor tapped his screwdriver in his palm, searching for the cash point.

“Behind the kiosk, to the right.” I supplied, looping my arm around Rose’s.

“Thanks.” The Doctor said, walking over to it. “Let’s use a cashpoint.”

“How did you know that?” Rose asked me, as I dragged her along with the Doctor.

“Memorized the layout once we landed.”  _ ‘And watching  _ Long Game _ back Home.’ _ “Old habits.”

By the time we were there, the Doctor was already handing Adam the cash stick. “There you go, pocket money.” I let go of Rose’s arm, going up to the Doctor’s side. “Don’t spend it all on sweets.” He chided Adam.

The tech fiddled with the card. “How does it work?” He asked us.

“You’re the tech genius, you figure it out.” I reminded, rudely. Story, I was just so damn tired of  _ Adam Mitchell _ . 

The Doctor grinned in my direction. He turned to Adam, a condescending look on his face. “The thing is,  _ Adam _ , time travel’s like visiting Paris.” My fellow Time Lord explained. “You can’t just read the guide book, you’ve got to throw yourself in.”

His companion was starting to laugh. She had no idea where this was going for her. She’d be annoyed if she knew the Doctor was setting her up on a date.

“Eat the food, use the wrong verbs, get charged double and end up kissing complete strangers.”  _ ‘Oh my Story. He just described  _ Girl in the Fireplace _.’ _ “Or is that just me?”  _ ‘Nah, that’s Ten and Eleven. You have time.’  _ Of course, if I did any of that I would have a double heart attack. “Stop asking questions, go and do it.” He waved Adam off- _ Finally! _ -with Rose not far behind. “Off you go, then.  _ Your first date. _ ”

“And he’s even  _ paying _ .” I added, throwing her an overly sweet smile. “Also, don’t forget to order me a burger. I’m starving.”

Rose snorted at us, giving us a raise eyebrow and a tongue on tooth smile.. “You’re going to get a smack, the two of you.”

I hid behind the Doctor, much to the companion’s delight. “Nu-uh. Not being slapped by a Tyler lady. Magoo goes first.”

With a giddy laugh, the two humans went off to order.

The Doctor and I changed in a second, focused on a new mission.

 

==CON==

 

The two of us walked back into the main room, taking notice of Cathica and Eva walking along. Looking at everyone else, it was was obvious why the Doctor went and talked with them. They were the only two who weren’t fully immersed with the rest of their team, also.

“Follow my lead.” The Doctor whispered.

I nodded. He lead me over to the two business women. 

“Er, this is going to sound daft.” The Doctor began with a stoic expression. He motioned to me with his head, then  “But can you tell us where we are?”

Cathica gave us flat looks. She pointed up at the large  _ 139  _ on the wall. “Floor One Three Nine. Could they write it any bigger?” She asked.

“Floor one three nine of what?” He followed up.

Cathica gave him a hard stare. “Must’ve been a hell of a party.”

“Sunshine, you have no idea.” I grinned pleasantly. The Doctor continued with his somewhat stoic expression.

“You’re on Satellite Five.” Eva said, politely.

“And what is Satellite Five?” The Doctor asked.

The journalist had enough of us. “Come on, how could you get on board without knowing where you are?” She asked, annoyed.

“Look at me.” The Time Lord shrugged. “I’m stupid.” He grinned as if to prove it.

“Seriously. He’s driving so bad I call him Magoo.” I added, helping his lie.

“She does, yeah.” The Doctor tapped my arm with his elbow in appreciation. The two of us grinned.

“Hold on, wait a minute. Are you a test?” Eva asked, looking slightly panicked now. She turned to Cathica, then back to us.  “Some sort of management test kind of thing?”

“And we’re busted.” I shrugged, stuffing my hands into my pockets. With a quick elbow tap, the Doctor brought out his psychic paper.  _ Even with all the weirdness around us, the Doctor and I are getting along. I want to say finding out I was a Time Lady brought us closer, but I’m not going to be that hopeful. _ “No flies on you. You can call me Terra.” I introduced myself. “And this here is...well we all call him Doctor Magoo.” The Doctor chuckled at the small joke, even the nervous Eva gave a soft smile.

The Doctor showed them his psychic paper, confirming the lies. Eva still looked on edge, probably suspecting her cover was nearly blown. Cathica, on the other hand, was looking at us in a new light. We were her bosses, she had to respect us because she wanted to be promoted. That was the kind of fear here, or the the society Max and the Editor created.

Journalist didn’t even want to investigate the world around them, see what was going on. The other species of the galaxy were too scared to come, kept away by their false news. This was not the human race, this was not the world. The Editor was playing god, and it has been my job to take guys like him down.

“We were warned about this in basic training.” The undercover rebel reminded Cathica. “All workers have to be versed in company promotion.”

Cathica squared her shoulders, a determined glint in her eyes. “Right, fire away, ask your questions.” She said, brushing back some of her braids. “If it gets me to Floor five hundred I’ll do anything.”

“Why, what happens on Floor five hundred?” The Doctor asked.

The journalist looked up, seemingly at the mythical floor. “ _ The walls are made of gold _ .” She said, as if to explain everything. “And you should know, Mister and Miss Management.” Cathica teased, only to be met with blank expressions. She braced herself, walking to a nearby wall. “So, this is what we do.”

Eva smiled reassuringly at us, following behind as we walked up to the wall monitor covered in TV’s. I watched the scenes with trepidation. This was supposed to be the Fourth Great and Bountiful Human Empire, and there was nothing but war on these screens. 

Well, not  _ all _ of it was war...

“And over on the Bad Wolf channel, the Face of Bo has just announced he’s pregnant.”

I held back a snort. Oh he was  _ so  _ gonna explain that. Actually, no. Changed my mind. Don’t want to know why the head is pregnant.

“I get it. You broadcast the news.” The Time Lord said, glancing at the screens.

This whole thing was probably confusing him, and after that Dalek he was hoping for something to make sense. He wanted to see the human race be good, and not like Van Statten. It was kinda a mood killer to find out your proud humans went back to my time in terms of intergalactic relations. Or that the only other Time Lord has no memory of the planet.

“We  _ are _ the news.” Cathica corrected, seemingly proud of her little speech. “We’re the journalists.” She gestured to Eva.

The brunette smiled at us, though it was just a bit forced.

“We write it, package it and sell it.” Cathica said, crossing her arms. “Six hundred channels all coming out of Satellite Five, broadcasting everywhere. Nothing happens in the whole human empire without going thru us.”

When the journalists weren’t paying attention, the Doctor and I exchanged a worried glance.

It was broken by the loud alarm blaring overhead. The humans cleared out, making it easier to spot our’s.

“Oi! Mutt and Jeff!” The Doctor called out to them. They turned our way, confused over the alarm. “Over here!”

They promptly stood. Rose quickly stood, grabbing some of her leftovers when walking over.

“Here ya go.” Rose handed me a plastic tin, with a kronkburger and fries inside. “One kronkburger, with chips.”

I smiled gratefully, yanking the tin from her hands. “Thank the Story, I’m starving.” Popping the lid open, I was hit the somewhat warm smell of a greasy burger. My mouth watered.

The Doctor shook his head, a small smile letting on to his opinion of my food choice.

 

==CON==

 

While everyone set themselves up for the broadcast, I was enjoying my burger and fries. My three traveler buddies had kept a distance from me. They didn’t like the smell of my burger, or whatever. After the day I had, this was just what I needed. It wasn’t as good as Idris’ but it’ll do.

Then again, the looks of disgust from the humans just made me proud of it.  _ ‘I’m strange and I like it. That’s just the way I am. Might as well get over it, don’t try to understand. I’m strange and I like it, that’s just the way I am.’ _ I thought, taking another big bite. That was a catchy song, I’ll admit.

“Now, everybody behave.” Cathica instructed. There was a pleased smile on her face as she walked over to the central chair. “We have a management inspection. How do you want it, by the book?”

“There’s no other way of doing it.” I stated, taking another bite once I finished.  _ ‘Wait, hold on. Are there seriously pickles on this thing? How does this body even feel about pickles? _ ’

“Okay. So, ladies, gentlemen, multi-sex, undecided or robot, my name is Cathica Santini Khadeni.” She looked back to the Doctor and I. I looked undignified licking the salt off my fingers. “That’s Cathica with a C, in case you want to write to Floor five hundred praising me, and please do.” She lost some of her confidence near the end, a quick glance at me and it turned to an overly friendly smile.

I nodded, with a forced grin, getting back to my meal. _ ‘Okay. Two likes pickles. We got peaches, the color purple, headbands, greasy food, animals, and now pickles.’ _

The not-so journalist turned to her team, keeping a professional air. “Now, please feel free to ask any questions. The process of news gathering must be open, honest, and beyond bias.” Cathica turned back to us. “That’s company policy.”

“Actually, it’s the law.” Eva corrected, almost sheepish. 

“Yes, thank you, Suki.” Cathica said snidely. She huffed, walking up to the central chair. Her heels echoed on the barren walls, though didn’t distract me from my meal. “Okay, keep it calm. Don’t show off for the guests. Here we go.” The woman laid out on the news chair. I watched the others cautiously, keeping extra attention on Eva. “And engage safety.”

The seven others (one of which looked a lot like Harley Quinn) held out their hands. The room hummed, and the backlights in the room lit up. I briefly wondered what TV show this would be on the Game Station. Just thinking about that place made me glance at Rose and the Doctor. They were watching the news team with curious eyes, Magoo was wondering about the technology and Rose wanted to see how it was done.

In just one hundred years, this would be Nine’s final standing ground. The Bad Wolf would come, and kill him, and die. He would die saving Rose’s life, and stopping the Dal-(I winced) _ those things. _ There was just about five episodes, but who knows how long it’ll actually be for us. It hurt, because it felt like the Doctor and I were getting closer after he found out  I was a Time Lady, and now it felt like I was losing him.

And Rose, Storyline Rose. She wouldn’t know what happened until  _ Doomsday _ -And now I’m thinking about  _ Doomsday _ . This girl would lose her father, lose her parallel mother, lose her best friend, and then lose both her Doctors. That’s messed up, and I don’t think I can stop it. What if I did, and the reapers came? What if my First Day changed? Worse, what if it  _ didn’t _ ? Like, what if even saving Nine and Rose meant I would just lose them in a more horrific way than before?

I needed to remind myself that I wasn’t losing them. The Doctor would just change his face, into the Tenth. Rose would...Rose would be  _ fine _ . She would eventually have her Doctor in Pete’s World, and they would be happy. I can’t  **force** someone’s past to change, to change that person, because I don’t like it. Rose Tyler would be saving Pete’s World, and the Doctor would have...just me...

The thought only made me feel worse. The last of his people wouldn’t be enough after losing the woman he loves. How could it ever?

I forced myself back into the present. I focused on Adam Mitchell, and Cathica, and the Editor. The Game Station couldn’t exist if Satellite Five did.

Cathica raised her hand, clicking it to reveal the brain inside. My mind felt the need to remind me the human brain look like uncooked hamburger meat. Hamburger, not kronkburger. I was fine for now.

The others laid their hands on the panels, the room hummed loudly with each pair. “And three, two, and spike.” Cathica said. A beam of light shot out from the ceiling, right into her open mind.

“Compressed information, streaming into her.” The Doctor said in realization. He stood up, slowly walking away from the railings. I guess having all of this information streaming into your head blocks out the outside world, as none of the reporters reacted to us. “Reports from every city, every country, every planet, and they all get packaged inside her head. She becomes part of the software. Her brain _ is _ the computer.”

Rose and I followed behind the Doctor, me eating away at the small meal. He was walking a semi circle around the table, making it impossible to stand by him.

“If it all goes through her, she must be a genius.” Rose commented, looking to the Doctor.

“Not likely.” I said, licking some of the fries salt off my fingers. Rose turned to me, while Adam just stared at Cathica’s head. “It’s too much for the human mind to handle. It’s a literal case of  _ in one ear, out the other.” _

The Doctor gave me a look, scrunching up his face in mock smugness. I saw some pride in his eyes. He was proud I had figured it out. “Don’t talk with your mouth full.”

“I’ll do what I like.” To prove it, I popped another fry in my mouth.

“Alright you two. Honestly.” Rose teased. I snorted, chewing on another fry. The Doctor chuckled, apparently agreeing with my sentiment. “What about all these people round the edge?” She kneeled down to them, while I walked over to Eva.

“They’ve all got tiny little chips in their head, connecting them to her and they transmit six hundred channels.” The Doctor explained, though I wasn’t completely paying attention. Eva...the last of the rebellion. “Every single fact in the Empire beams out of this place. Now that’s what I call power.” He stopped in front of Adam, leaning on the railing.

“I can confirm that this is indeed what is happening.” I said to Rose, before eating the last of my kronkburger. Great, now I had finished my food, and I’m still hungry. 

The companion grinned, adding a small laugh. The Doctor just rolled his eyes, but smiled.  _ ‘Keep my friends smiling, protect them, and always stay true to myself. That’s a good promise, I can live up to that.’ _

Rose went back to Adam, probably wondering why he wasn’t joining in on the fun.  I tucked away my plastic tin in the Bag for now. “You alright?”

“I can see her brain.” The tech said, staring quite rudely at her.  _ ‘Can I punch this guy? I just can’t be true to myself without punching this guy.’ _

“Do you want to get out?” Rose asked

“No. No, this technology, it’s  _ amazing _ .” Adam said, starting to smile. 

“This technology’s wrong.” The Doctor corrected in a calculating voice.

Rose and I turned to him. “Trouble?” I asked with a mischievous grin, almost wanting to dance on the balls of my feet.

The Doctor grinned at me. “Oh, yeah.”

Eva pried her hands off the table, wincing painfully. I couldn’t help but frown as I remembered her fate. The others removed their hands, and the beam of light into Cathica’s head shut off. “Come off it, Suki. I wasn’t even halfway. What was that for?” Cathica snapped tiredly. 

“Sorry. It must’ve been a glitch.” Eva said, embarrassed.

“Oh.” Cathica sighed, lifting herself off the table.

I gave the Doctor a brief look. He just shrugged back. There wasn’t any time for questions because the computer announced the promotion, complete with the wallscreen.

“Come on. This is it. Come on. Oh God, make it me. Come on, say my name, say my name, say my name.” Cathica pleaded.

To her disappointment and mine, it was Eva.

Everyone in the room looked to the happy reporter. Eva was happy, and anyone could see it was like her dreams had come true. I knew it was for different reasons than being promoted, she though she was going to kill the Editor. “I don’t believe it. Floor five hundred.” She said, standing up from her seat on the ground. She thought she was going to make the rebellion proud.

Cathica, on the other hand, felt cheated. “How the hell did you manage that? I’m above you.”

“I don’t know. I just applied on the off chance and they’ve said yes!” She cheered, laughing.

“That’s so not fair.” Cathica grumbled. “I’ve been applying to Floor five hundred for _ three years.” _

They only take the people who’re least valuable, or the troublemakers. Cathica was too good an employee to use on Floor 500. She never asked questions, always gave her best during reports. _ ‘Well, we all know what happens to non-entities. They get promoted.’ _

“What’s Floor five hundred?” Rose asked, quietly.

“The walls are made of gold.” The Doctor and I answered, though mine a bit more sullen.

 

==CON==

 

It was ten minutes later when Eva came excitedly rushing to the elevator. She held only one bag, but the smile on her face showed that if she had much more she was leaving it behind. 

She put her suitcase down, beaming at us. “Cathica, I’m going to miss you.” Eva said to her disgruntled friend, before turning to the Doctor and I. “Floor five hundred, thank you.” She 

“We didn’t do anything.” The Doctor said, smiling.

“Well, you’re my lucky charms.” Eva convinced us.

“All right. I’ll hug anyone.” The two hugged, much to Eva and I’s delight and Cathica’s annoyance.

I rolled my eyes, smiling otherwise. A lovable goofball, that was the Doctor. Rose took Adam off to the side, and I couldn’t care less about what was up Adam’s pants.

When Eva finished the hug, coming to me. Despite myself, I hugged the woman back. The woman was going up to die, and all I could do was watch. From the Doctor point of view, we knew nothing about what actually went on up there. He didn’t know they were dying, so I had to pretend like I didn’t. Requirements of the job.

Plus, she would help take down the Editor at the end, so something good comes out of this.

_ “All staff are reminded that the sixteen forty break session has been shortened by ten minutes. Thank you.” _

The hug ended abruptly, both of us backing away when the announcement ended. “Oh, my God, I’ve got to go!” Eva lifted up her bag. Rose was standing by the Doctor now, so Adam had finally gone off to screw everything up. “I can’t keep them waiting. I’m sorry.”

I watched with a half smile as Eva excitedly ran into the elevator.

“Say goodbye to Steve for me.” Eva almost squealed. “Bye!”

I waved goodbye as the doors shut. 

Cathica scoffed, crossing her arms and turning away. “Good riddance.”

I watched the lift numbers rising, rising, rising.

“You’re talking like you’ll never see her again. She’s only going upstairs.” The Doctor said.

“We won’t.” Cathica said, and it felt ominous. “Once you go to Floor five hundred you never come back.”

Still rising, in the two hundreds now. Three...three and a half...

The Doctor lightly shoved my elbow, getting my attention. I reminded myself that if I didn’t want Eva’s death to be in vain, I had to start fighting for her now.

The three of us followed behind Cathica, and it felt really good to be able to say that. She ended up in the cafeteria.

“You ever been up there?” I asked Cathica, slipping my hands in my jean pockets.

“I can’t.” The journalist said with resignation. “You need a key for the lift, and you only get a key with promotion.” We turned the corner, getting closer to her news room. “No one gets to five hundred except for the chosen few.” She commented.

 

==CON==

 

It was clear of Cathica’s irritation over being usurped of her promotion. She walked into her newsroom, much less confident than last time. The other news people had left, but they were

“Look, they only give us twenty minutes maintenance. Can’t you give it a rest?” She sighed, looking over her clipboard.

“But you’ve never been to another floor? Not even one floor down?” The Doctor asked, sitting in the central chair. I stood behind him, looking at the various wires connected to the chair.

“I went to floor sixteen when I first arrived. That’s medical. That’s when I got my head done, and then I came straight here.” The journalist explained, kneeling down to Eva’s seat. “Satellite Five, you work, eat and sleep on the same floor. That’s it, that’s all.” She looked up at us, realization in her eyes. “You’re not management, are you.”

“At last.” The Time Lord commented. “She’s clever.”

“Button it, Magoo.” I shot back. Hmm, the cables were a bit complex for my total understanding, but they were ordinary broadcasting cords at any rate.

He stuck his tongue out at me. It made Rose grin at our antics, so I guess that was could. She was nervous, shifty. It was probably just because Adam wasn’t here, and she was worried about him. It was understable, stupid, but understandable.

“Yeah, well, whatever it is, don’t involve me. I don’t know anything.”

“Hold on, a journalist that doesn’t even ask questions?” I argued, holding my hand up in a halting position to her.

“Well, why would I?” Cathica countered.

“It’s one of the  _ basics _ in journalism class. They scream it at you in day one. I should know, I took it for three years in college.” I stated. “And you’re a journalist.”

“Blimey. You went to college, too?” Rose asked.

“Three times.” I stated. “Summa cum laude twice.”

“Why’s all the crew human?” The Time Lord asked simply. Guess we were tag teaming the questioning, I liked that.

Cathica huffed, annoyed. “What’s that got to do with anything?”

“There’s no aliens on board.” _ Present company excluded.  _ “Why?”

_ ‘They won’t be as controllable by the chips?  _ “I don’t know. No real reason. They’re not banned or anything.” The journalist shrugged off our questions.

_ ‘In one ear, out the other.’  _ “Then where are they?” I asked.

She paused, actually having to consider it. If she was a real journalist, a real news anchor, she would already be spouting off on everything that had been happening. “I suppose immigration’s tightened up. It’s had to, what with all the threats.”

“What threats?” The Doctor asked.

“I don’t know all of them. Usual stuff.” As Cathica spoke, even an idiot could tell she was grasping at straws to try and reason it away. “And the price of space warp doubled so that kept the visitors away. Oh, and the government on Chavic Five’s collapsed, so that lot stopped coming, you see.” Becoming unnerved by our questioning, Cathica went back to finishing maintenance. “Just lots of little reasons, that’s all.”

“You missed the big picture.” I shook my head, tsking. “They teach that day two.”

“Adding up to one great big fact, and you didn’t even notice.” The Doctor threw in.

“Doctor, Terra, I think if there was any kind of conspiracy, Satellite Five would have seen it. We see everything.” Cathica argued.

_ ‘No,  _ I  _ can see everything, and I’ve seen the thing wrong.’ _

“I can see better.” The Time Lord stated. “This society’s the wrong shape, even the technology.”

Cathica sneered. “It’s  cutting edge .”

“It’s  backwards .” The Doctor argued, with a bit of finality cutting Cathica’s further arguments off. “There’s a great big  _ door  _ in your head. You should’ve chucked this out _ years  _ ago.”

“So, what do the two of you think’s going on?” Rose questioned.

“Finally, someone asks.” I sighed, shaking my head in shock of how long it actually took.  _ ‘Okay, I’ll admit, even I get a little caught up in the act.’ _

The Doctor went into lecture mode. “It’s not just this space station, it’s the whole attitude. It’s the way people think. The great and bountiful Human Empire’s stunted. Something’s holding it back.”

“And how would you know?” Cathica asked, finally showing some journalist instinct.

“Trust me, humanity’s been set back about ninety years.” The Doctor stated.

“When did Satellite Five start broadcasting?” I asked, trying to make it sound like I had just put it together.

For the first time, Cathica seemed properly nervous. “Ninety  _ one _ years ago.”

I sighed, shaking my head. “Of course it did.”

The Doctor grinned, though he didn’t look as happy as he had been when I figured things out.

 

==CON==

 

For the most part, the Ninth Doctor had been an easy Time Lord to read. If he wasn’t feeling angst about Gallifrey, it was his feeling towards Rose. If he wasn’t smiling because of humans, it was because he had figured it out. If you didn’t piss him off, his sarcasm was friendly.

Right now, he was hard to read. It didn’t take a complete genius to know that he was thinking about me, because I was the uncontrolled variable. I was Time Lady, and he didn’t notice. He must be thinking all of the things I had been for the past two months. Who I was, why I hadn’t told him. He wanted to know why he couldn’t feel me in his head, and all the other bits of Time Lord biology I hadn’t learned yet.

That would all come later, of course. After Adam betrayed us, we fixed the Human Empire, and then turned off _ this fucking heat. _

The Doctor had brought us to the other computer room. He brought the sonic up to the metal wall, trying to open up the panel.

“We are so going to get in trouble.” The journalist complained. “You’re not allowed to touch the mainframe. You’re going to get told off.”

“Terra, tell her to button it.” The Doctor said when the panel popped open.

“Cathica with a C, button it.” I ordered. _ ‘Haha. Told her off.’ _

She didn’t. “You can’t just vandalize the place. Someone’s going to notice!”

“I told you to button it.” I reminded her. Rose cracked a smile, leaning against the door to the panel.

“This is nothing to do with me. I’m going back to work.” Cathica said, about to storm off.

“Go on, then. See you!” The Doctor remarked, not looking away from his wires.

“I can’t just leave you, can I!” 

“Actually you can. Just put one foot in front of the other until you’re gone.” I snapped. “And then turn on the stupid air conditioning, because I do not work well in heat.” _ As is true in any incarnation of me: heat plus me equals bitchtastic.’ _

“Yeah, it’s boiling.” Rose was almost panting at the heat. “What’s wrong with this place? Can’t they do something about it?”

“I don’t know. We keep asking. Something to do with the turbine.” She excused poorly, rubbing at her head.

“ _ Something to do with the turbine _ .” He mocked.

_ “Hi. My name’s Cathica. I’m a journalist and I don’t know how to do my job.” _ I mocked with him, trying to copy Cathica’s snippy tone.

“Well, I don’t know!” Cathica argued.

The Doctor turned round to face her. “Exactly. I give up on you, Cathica.” He near shouted at her. “Now, Terra and Rose. Look at the two of them. Terra and Rose are asking the right kind of question.”

“Oh, thank you.”

“Thank ya kindly.”

“Why is it so hot?” The Doctor finished.

I reached forward, pulling out various plugs and cables. While plumping was not one of my talents, but tech was.  _ ‘Way better than the Door-in-the-Head’. _ The Doctor gave me a brief look, and I couldn’t tell if it was because he was curious as to how fast I pulled these out or that he was proud. Either way, he began sonicking the cables trying to find the problem.

Cathica scoffed. “One minutes you’re worried about the Empire and the next it’s the central heating!”

“Well, never underestimate plumbing. Plumbing’s very important.” The cable he was holding bent back with an electrical snap.

“And you just broke it.” I deadpanned, taking the cords away from him.

“I know what I’m doing.” The Doctor argued.

“And I’ll believe that later, in working air conditioning.” I grumbled, twisting the cords and wires about to get us to the real prize. “Done.”

“Wait, hold on, done?” Rose asked. “What did you do?”

“Found Satellite Five’s pipes and plumbing layout.” I replied. I pulled out the screen, beaming at Magoo’s stunned face.

“How’d you manage that?” He asked.

I shrugged. “It might just be a big TV station in 200,000, but it’s actually just an overgrown spaceship. I worked as a repair-girl on one for a couple years.” _ ‘Thanks Zenon.’ _ “The layout is practically identical.”  _ ‘Because even though they were separate universe, everything you needed on Zenon’s ship you also needed on Satellite Five. Air, food, artificial gravity, and plumbing.’ _

Magoo grinned. Rose was still looking at me in surprise. “That’s genius.”

_ ‘No. Hearts, stop working. It’s too hot in here for friendship-’ _

_ ‘It’s gettin’ hot in here so take off all your clothes-’ _

_ ‘NO!’ _

Too late, the song was now stuck in my head. I winced, backing away to give Cathica and the Doctor a chance to look at the layout.

“This is ridiculous. You’ve got access to the computer’s core.” Cathica turned to me, shocked. “You can look at the archive, the news, the stock exchange, and you’re looking at pipes?”

“Never was one for the status quo.”  _ ‘Great. Now instead of the first song, that HSM song is stuck in my head. Oh, oh, oh, stick to the status quo.’ _

“But there’s something wrong.” The Doctor reminded her. _ ‘If you wanna be cool, follow one simple rule.’ _

Cathica frowned, checking the layout again. “I suppose.”  _ ‘Stick to the stuff you know.’ _

“Why, what is it?” Rose asked.

I was prepared to explain, but Cathica did so anyway. “The ventilation system. Cooling ducts, ice filters, all working flat out channelling massive amounts of heat down.”

“All the way from the top.”  _ ‘Now you gotta bop, bop, bop, bop to the top. Slip and slide and ride that rhythm.’ FUCK! _

“Floor five hundred.” Rose realized.

“Something up there is creating tons of heat.” I put my hands in my jean pockets, looking up at the ceiling.  _ ‘I’m burning up, burning up, for you baby.’ Meh, better than HSM.  _ “Something we don’t know about.”

“Well, I don’t know about you, but I feel like I’m missing out on a party.” The companion joked. She looked to the Doctor and I. “It’s all going on upstairs. Fancy a trip?”

“You can’t. You need a key.” Cathica said, frowning at us. 

“Keys are just codes, and I’ve got the codes right here.” The Doctor said, walking up to the screen.

I held my hand out to him. “Give me the sonic.” I ordered. He gave me an indignant look. “I’m not in the mood for you to break things. Try again when the AC works. Give me the sonic.”

He frowned, reaching inside his leather jacket for the sonic. “Here you go.” He lowered it in my hand, then pulled it back. “Don’t break it.”

“When have I ever been the one to break something?” I challenged, keeping my hand held out. The Doctor grinned at that, conceding. When he placed it in my hand, I was able to see Rose’s almost worrying look. Why would she be worried? “Also, could use a bit of a ‘how-to’.”

I had to give the guy something, so he wouldn’t be all mopey. “Just point and think.” The Doctor explained, a bit more chipper. “It’s setting 23.”

Following his example, I lifted the sonic to the screen. I was trying hard not to look like an overjoyed toddler, but it was impossible to keep the giddy laugh inside.

“Having fun?” Rose teased.

“Totally.” I giggled again, watching in fascination as the numbers appeared on the screen. “Mission accomplished. Override two one five point nine.”

“How come it’s given you the code?” Cathica asked. At least she was asking questions, no matter how annoying.

“Someone up there likes us.” The Doctor said, looking up at a security camera.

I grinned, just on the edge of madly, up at the camera. 

 

==CON==

 

The four of us went to the elevator, which opened as if expecting us. Not gonna lie, I liked it when the bad guys laid out the red carpet for us. One time, back in my early FBI days, one guy actually made us to come him with a bunch of clues and puzzles designed specifically for us. I almost blew up that day, and it was _ awesome _ .

Magoo had asked for his screwdriver back, so I reluctantly handed it over. Guess I was gonna have to do without. He seemed to be a bit kinder to me than before. None of those wary looks when he thought I wasn’t paying attention, he smiled a bit wider, and his eyes weren’t as sad. I mean, still sad, but less so, I’m gonna say 38% less sad. It felt relieving to tell him I was a Time Lady, and I couldn’t wait to talk more about what I’d done.

It reminded me of when I told Darcy about myself. The girl had been ecstatic, listening to my stories like I was speaking gospel. The older she was, the more outrageous stories I told. Darcy never doubted them, either, like I knew most did. Do you have any idea how hard it was having those  _ what was the coolest thing you did this summer _ papers and having to choose between riding a roller coaster made of peanut butter and rubbers snakes, or a trip to Grandma’s? It’s worse because I had to tell the Grandma story because the other one  _ ‘was in a cartoon’ _ and _ ‘didn’t count’ _ .

Who knows, maybe talking about my past with the Doctor would get him to share. Those were my favorite parts of  _ Doctor Who _ , when he talked about his past. Talking about the orange sky, and the twin suns, and the Untempered Schism. Even the Master’s little speech about his father’s estates was good. They were sharing their history, and that took courage. More courage then I have.

Rose had smiled at the Doctor and I, but it was held back. Why was she being so worried? Was she thinking back to all the stuff I told her earlier? I’ll admit, not some of my most convincing lies, but I could make them better with time.

Rose looked to Cathica, would had paused just a few yards from the elevator. “Come on. Come with us.” Was she worried about being outnumbered, two Time Lords but one human?

“No way.” The journalist put her foot down. _ This is why she wasn’t being promoted. _

“Bye!” Magoo waved cheekily.

“Well, don’t mention my name. When you get in trouble, just don’t involve me.” Cathica said, storming off.

“No. Stop. Come back.” I said dryly, looking down at my black nails idly.

“That’s her gone. Adam’s given up.” “He looked to Rose and I. “Looks like it’s just the three of us.”

Rose smiled. “Yeah.”

“About time.”

“Good.” The Doctor grinned.

“Yep.”

The Doctor reached down, holding my hand. I took Rose’s. The three of us beamed.

 

==CON==

 

Sweet Merciful Storyline, you could feel it getting colder the higher you went. The elevator doors opened, and the three of us were hit by the cold air. It was even better than Christmas 1869.

The Doctor walked out of the elevator first, looking around at the icicles hanging on the walls  “The walls are not made of gold. The two of you should go back downstairs.” He suggested in a pure Doctor way.

“Tough.” Rose said, winded by the cold air. She walked past the Doctor.

“Too bad, so sad.” I said, following Rose. “It’s cold up here, so I’m not leaving.”

The three of us walked down the abandoned looking floor. It was covered in cobwebs (that I was trying to ignore) and dust. It was still cold, that that outweighed everything.

The Doctor led us to the metal stairway for the Editor. The extremely pale white haired man was looking up at the screens with concentration, barely affected by our arrival. A quick glance up confirmed the existence of the big squishy creature of death known as Max.

I looked to the six people already dead, the chips keeping them working. Were they completely dead, or just trapped in a state of limbo until they were deactivated? Eva was probably the only one with even some spark of life, having so recently passed and kept cold. I recognized Eva’s shirt and haircut at the end of the lineup, ice at the tips. It hurt.

The Editor glanced at us. “I started without you.” He supplied.

I glanced at his screens, seeing dozens of different bits of information. He was still searching for us.  _ Mickey actually did good on us. _

“This is fascinating.” The Editor began, grinning at us in disbelief. “Satellite Five contains every piece of information within the Fourth Great and Bountiful Human Empire. Birth certificates, shopping habits, bank statements, but you three, you don’t exist.”

A ghost of a smirk came to me. It was good to see the Editor get so high strung about this.

“Not a trace. No birth, no job, not the slightest kiss. How can you walk through the world and not leave a single footprint?” He asked, plainly.

Rose, who had been looking at each new computer, stopped at Eva. She ran up to the poor girl. “Suki. Suki!”

My hands slipped into my pockets, uneasy at having to explain this to her. She shook the corpse, only to meet cold flesh. “Hello? Can you hear me? Suki?” Nothing.

She snapped her to the Editor. “What have you done to her?” Rose asked, upset.

“Rose, she’s gone.” I said in a gentle voice.

“She’s working.” Rose argued.

“So was Gwyneth.” I reminded her.

Rose’s frown deepened when she looked back to Eva.

“They’ve all got chips in their head, and the chips keep going, like puppets.” The Doctor explained angrily.

“Oh! You’re full of information.” The Editor cheered. I glared at him. “But it’s only fair we get some information back, because apparently, you’re no one.” The Editor chuckled. “It’s so rare not to know something.” The laughter vanished, replaced with annoyance and a forced smile. “Who are you?”

The Doctor turned round. I glanced behind us, seeing the guards (that I refused to call zombies) ready to attack. Enough for the both of us. “It doesn’t matter, because we’re off. Nice to meet you.” He took ahold of my wrist, glancing to Rose. “Come on.”

Barely half a step, and we were ambushed by the guards. The ones on me kept their grip especially on my armguards. The two holding me were especially rough, and I couldn’t tell why. What, did they not like being kicked in the shins?

The Doctor glared angrily at the Editor, enough to make me see it was because of me.

“Tell me who you are.” The Editor ordered.

The Doctor struggled against the guards, occasionally looking over to me to see if I was okay. “Since that information’s keeping us alive, I’m hardly going to say, am I?”

The Editor snorted. “Well, perhaps my Editor in Chief can convince you otherwise.” The man offered.

“And who’s that?” I kicked the guard again. He squeezed strongly on my armband, enough 

The Editor walked into the Doctor’s face.  “It may interest you to know that this is not the Fourth Great and Bountiful Human Empire.” He explained happily. “In fact, it’s not actually human at all. It’s merely a place where humans  _ happen _ to live.”

**_*SNARLS*_ **

I froze. My eyes warily went up to Max, which I had been avoiding. It looked like facehuggers from  _ Alien _ only much larger and with sharper teeth. (Yes. I had been to  _ Alien _ . It was for Darcy’s birthday.)

“Yeah. Yeah, sorry. It’s a place where humans are  _ allowed _ to live by kind permission of my client.” The Editor corrected, able to translate the snarls. 

Rose, having been brought by two new guards, looked up at it. “What is that?” She asked the Doctor and I.

“You mean that thing’s in charge of Satellite Five?” The Doctor said instead.

“That thing, as you put it, is in charge of the human race.” The Doctor looked at the Editor in shock. The pale man went on to speak poetically about the alien on the ceiling. “For almost a hundred years, mankind has been shaped and guided, his knowledge and ambition strictly controlled by it’s broadcast news, edited by my superior, your master, and humanity’s guiding light, the mighty Jagrafess of the Holy Hadrojassic Maxarodenfoe.”

The alien hissed and snarled again. In a weak effort to escape, I yanked my arms against the guards. 

“I call him Max.”

 

==CON==

 

The guards had attached those strange handcuffs to our arms. I couldn’t find a way to twist my wrist enough to let us out. These sucked. Worse, my headband had come loose during the struggle to get me in these. It was now dangling around my neck, my brown bangs falling so I could see the tips without looking up. Not that I would want to, as directly above us was the Jagrafess, awaiting the time to snack.

The Doctor and Rose were handcuffed as well, glaring at captor. I was stuck in the middle of them, glaring at the Editor as he gave us a history lesson. 

“Create a climate of fear and it’s easy to keep the borders closed. It’s just a matter of emphasis.” He explained, and it took everything in me not to make the gesture that he was talking too much. “The right word in the right broadcast repeated often enough can destabilize an economy, invent an enemy, change a vote.”

“So all the people on Earth are like, slaves.” Rose asked, disgusted.

“Well, now, there’s an interesting point. Is a slave a slave if he doesn’t know he’s enslaved?” The Editor asked us.

“Yes.” The Doctor and I stated.

The pale man gaped at us. “Oh. I was hoping for a philosophical debate. Is that all I’m going to get? Yes?”

“Yes.” We repeated.

The Editor pouted. “You’re no fun.”

“Let me out of these manacles. You’ll find out how much fun I am.” The Doctor warned.

It was darker than it had been on the show. I nearly flinched, especially when I remembered the words  _ ‘Why don’t you just die?’ _ has boomed in my head not even two hours ago. 

“Oh, he’s tough, isn’t he.” The Editor asked me. I glared angrily, despite the growing sense of worry in my gut. “But, come on. Isn’t it a great system? You’ve got to admire it, just a little bit.”

I kept my glare. “No.” I flexed my wrists, just wanting to get some wiggle room in the cuffs. “Something of this scale, 91 years of herding, we noticed it. Others must have too.”

The Editor shrugged, stalking away from us. “From time to time, someone, yes, but the computer chip system allows me to see inside their brains. I can see the smallest doubt and crush it.”

I glanced to Eva, body covered in ice. “Like you did with Suki.” I was barely able to say her fake name. “During her broadcast, it wasn’t a glitch, was it?”

“Oh, you’re clever.” The Editor encouraged. Beside me, the Doctor’s fists clenched. “Found out her little secret, the last of the rebellion. Well, until you lot came in.”

“So you take the troublemakers.” My voice was icy. “ _ Crush _ them, and then use them for extra processing power?”

The Editor frowned, mocking me. “When you put that way, it sounds pretty bad.” His grin came back. He walked up to us, grinning at me specifically. “But don’t you get it? It doesn’t really matter. A few humans used up, and the rest, they just carry on, living the life, strutting about downstairs and all over the surface of the Earth like they’re so individual, when of course, they’re not.”

_ ‘Nine hundred years of time and space, and I’ve never met anyone who wasn’t important.’ _

“They’re just cattle. In that respect, the Jagrafess hasn’t changed a thing.” The Editor joked.

Behind him, Cathica slipped past the defenses soundlessly.

“What about you? You’re not a Jagrabelly-” The companion struggled.

“Jagrafess.” I corrected boredly.

“Jagrafess. You’re not a Jagrafess.” Rose pointed out. “You’re human.”

_ ‘The belief in a supernatural source of evil is not necessary. Men alone are capable of every wickedness.’ _

“Yeah, well, simply being human doesn’t pay very well.” The Editor stated simply.

“But you couldn’t have done this all on your own.” Rose said.

The Editor had to give her credit there. “No. I represent a consortium of banks. Money prefers a long-term investment. Also, the Jagrafess needed a little hand to install himself.”

“No wonder, a creature that size.” The Time Lord remarked. “What’s his lifespan?”

“Three thousand years.” The Editor grinned, proud of his boss lasting longer than us. 

“That’s one hell of a metabolism generating all that heat.” He was staring down the Editor, but Rose and I knew he was talking to us. “That’s why Satellite Five’s so hot. You pump it out of the creature, channel it downstairs. Jagrafess stays cool, it stays alive.”

The Editor actually looked a bit surprised at the Doctor, wondering how he could have possibly figured that all out.

“Satellite Five is one great big life support system.” The Time Lord finished.

The Editor clapped his hands together, walking just a bit too close to Rose for my liking.. “But that’s why you’re so dangerous.” He said. “Knowledge is power, but you remain unknown. Who are you?”

(The Editor snaps his fingers and energy surges through the manacles.)

_ “Hey. I have an idea. You said you felt it’s pain, does it work the other way?” Simmons asked, before pressing a cattle prod to my chest. I screamed in pain, shaking as I felt my second heart skipping a couple beats. _

_ The Dalek ripping the connection from my mind, leaving me to collapse weakly in the middle of the carnage. _

_ Garfield Logan pressing a cloth to my face, letting me sleep for I don’t know how long and doing I don’t know what to me. _

_ Terra Four sending me away, a pained look in her eyes. The Eleventh Purple Tweed Doctor and the mysterious Souffle Girl Oswin Oswald following after her, like she was important to the both of them. _

I gasped when the pain stopped, though I was still panting in exertion.

“Leave them alone.” The Doctor pleaded when the static stopped, though it went like fuzz in my ear. “I’m the Doctor, she’s Terra Johnson, and she’s Rose Tyler. We’re nothing, we’re just wandering.”

“Tell me who you are!” The Editor whined.

“I just said!” The Doctor shouted back, looking between Rose and I in growing concern.

“Yes, but who do you work for? Who sent you?” He interrogated. “Who knows about us? Who exactly-”

There was a loud whooshing sound. The Editor flinched away in pain, gasping. The Jagrafess hissed and growled, some of his drool nearly landing on us. It reminded me a bit of the Stitch show in Disney World; they both sucked.

“Time Lords.” The Editor breathed, and my hearts hardened.

_ ‘Adam Door-In-The-Head Mitchell.’ _ “What?” The Doctor said.

The Editor “Oh, yes. The last of the Time Lords in their travelling machine. Oh, with his little human girl from long ago and his new little playmate.” The Editor reached out to me, brushing a hand against my cheek.

I flinched away, more of my hair falling over my face. “You don’t know what you’re talking about.” He barely stopped from snarling.

“Time travel.” The Editor stated.

The Doctor frowned, grasping at straws to get us out. “Someone’s been telling you lies.”

The Editor grinned darkly. I subconsciously shifted closer to the Doctor. “Young Master Adam Mitchell?” He clicked his fingers. A hologram of Adam appeared overhead, him screaming in pain and a stream of light beaming from his head.

“Oh, my God. His head!” Rose gaped.

“That  _ stupid  _ idiot!” I hissed, wanting to facepalm if only to hide my enraged face. “ _ Worse _ than a stupid idiot!”

“What the hell’s he done? What the hell’s he gone and done?” The Doctor shook his head at the tech. “They’re reading his mind. He’s telling them everything.”

“And through him, I know everything about you.” The Editor bragged. “Every piece of information in his head is now mine. And you have infinite knowledge, Doctor. The Human Empire is tiny compared to what you’ve seen in your T-A-R-D-I-S. TARDIS.”

Okay. Now he was talking about the TARDIS. That is where I draw a line.

“Well, you’ll never get your hands on it. I’ll die first.” The Doctor said.

“I’ll die before I let you touch her!” I growled, arms straining against the cuffs.

The Editor scoffed. “Die all you like. I don’t need you. I’ve got the key.”

On the hologram, the key lifted up from Adam’s pocket. My own key felt colder against my skin, hidden beneath my purple tunic. Could they have taken my key too? It had the lollipop with it, and that charm was more precious than the key, but I couldn’t lose my new home. I couldn’t lose Idris, or Pops’ home box.

It occurred to me a moment later that I had called the TARDIS home.

“You and your boyfriends!” The Doctor spat towards Rose.

I stared at the key, before looking down at the Editor. The only thing keeping me from lashing out was the reminder that Cathica was still in the room, and that Adam was only a hologram (for now).

“Today, we are the headlines. We can rewrite history. We could prevent mankind from ever developing.” The Editor said.

“And no one’s gonna question it.” I said, with growing horror. “Cause no one’s asking questions, not even the journalists. You rewired them to think differently, took away what was their best quality: curiosity.” I glanced to Cathica, being sure to look her in the eye. “They’re idiots, running up to the slaughterhouse because it’s made of gold.”

Cathica looked away, determination finally in her eyes. The Editor just grinned. The Jagrafess hissed and gurgled above my head.

“You’re an idiot.” I stated, dumbfounded at his own stupidity.

He kept grinning. “Oh, am I?”

“You’re an idiot.” I repeated. “You took away their curiosity, their free thinking, everything that makes them who they are.” I leaned forward, held back by the cuffs. “Did you really think they weren’t going to fight back?”

The Editor was confused for another two seconds. I felt the Doctor’s heavy gaze, and I didn’t need to be a profiler to know he was proud. The alarms blared loudly, a pop-up appearing on the new screen.

I grinned this time, seeing the pale man run to the screen. “What’s happening?” The Editor asked his computers. On the hologram, Rose’s key fell to the floor. “Someone’s disengaged the safety.” He clicked his fingers. The hologram changed from Adam to Cathica. “Who’s that?”

“ _ That _ is a journalist!” I announced proudly.

“It’s Cathica.” Rose murmured in shock.

“And she’s thinking. She’s using what she knows.” The Doctor said, sounding as proud of her as I was.

“Come on, Cathica, come on.” I mumbled, crossing my fingers. “You can do it.”

“Terminate her access.” The Editor said fruitlessly.

The Time Lord grinned. “Everything I told her about Satellite Five. The pipes, the filters, she’s reversing it.” The Doctor motioned to some of the ice. “Look at that.”

It was melting to the point of rain. I was feeling peppy.

“It’s getting hot.”

The Editor was only getting angrier. “I said, terminate. Burnout her mind.” He growled to Eva, placing his hands over her’s.

Cathica fought back harder. She fought so hard the force blasted the Editor away from the computer. The workforce fell forward, dead for real.

The cuffs sparked with electricity, though non lethal. They released Rose and I, but not Magoo. There was this small part of me, the anxious and paranoid part, that screamed to get him out.  _ ‘I don’t want to be the Last. I don’t want to be the Last. I  _ can’t _ be the Last. Please, Magoo, don’t make me the Last.’ _

“She’s venting the heat up here.” He explained excitedly. The whole room was shaking, so I was struggling to keep balance. “The Jagrafess needs to stay cool and now it’s sitting on top of a volcano.”

I reached for his pocket, grappling for the sonic. The Jagrafess hissed louder, the constant shaking and increase in temperature not suiting him well.

“Yes, I’m trying, sir, but I don’t know how she did it.” The Editor to reason. “It’s impossible. A member of staff with an  _ idea _ .”

He pushed the dying Eva from her chair, and I growled seeing her flop to the ground. The anger switched targets when the Jagrafess stretched down closer to our level.

I pulled out the sonic. “Point and think, right?” I asked.

“Flick the switch!” Magoo shouted at me. Before following the instruction, I whacked him in the head with the sonic. “Ow!”

“Saving you life. You’re not making me the Last!” I shouted back just as the cuffs fell to the floor. My eyes widened when I realized what I let slip. 

He eyed me for a second, a flash of pain in his eyes. He had made me, made us, the Last of our kind. He had another Time Lord out there, though, better than me. The Master had their  _ sum of knowledge, a code, shared history, shared suffering. I’m just an echo.  _ I was the last Time Lady. The Doctor knew that.

The floor shook again. The Doctor and I could hash all of this out later, in the TARDIS after Adam Mitchell.

Magoo was the King of Deflection, looking to the panicked Editor. “Oi, mate, want to bank on a certainty?” He called out. I grabbed Rose’s hand, leading her back the way we came.

“But the Doctor-”

“Will be right with us. You gotta be ready to run!” I said, waiting at the bottom for the Doctor to join us.

“Massive heat in a massive body, massive bang.” The Doctor shouted, walking backwards to the stairway.

To prove his point, pieces of the Jagrafess fell to the floor. The Editor looked on in horror. 

“See you in the headlines!” The Time Lord said before hopping down the stairs.

The three of us ran to Cathica, ignoring the Editor’s shouts for Eva to let him go. The bang was loud, shaking the floor harder than ever.

I smiled side at Cathica when she opened her eyes. My hand squeezed her shoulder, helping her out of the central chair. She was proud of herself, something I realized she hadn’t been the whole time.

 

==CON==

 

The lower levels were just as shook up as Floor 500 had been. Course, none of the other journalists were on my radar when I caught sight of the bastard Adam Mitchell.

Rose had found him when she went to get her key. The man was holding it up, only barely sheepish. I took a bit of pride seeing him hesitate when he caught my fiery gaze. 

While the Doctor talked with Cathica, I kept watch on the tech. He was standing at the door of the TARDIS, but I just wanted him to feel all the rage I felt inside.

For showing Rose what was happening to me. For giving the Doctor that gun. For leaving us behind. For causing all of this damage. I should be a bit worried that he had a door in his head, I know my original self was disgusted by it, but Terra Two was happy he had a way of never forgetting today.

“We’re just going to go. I hate tidying up. Too many questions. You’ll manage.”

“You’ll have to stay and explain it. No one’s going to believe me.”

“Oh, they might start believing a lot of things now. The human race should accelerate. All back to normal.”

“What about your friend?”

“He’s not our friend.”

Rose held a hand up to the Doctor, trying to calm us down. “Now, don’t-”

But she wasn’t talking to the Doctor and Terra Johnson. We were the Oncoming Storm and the Fallen Star.

The two of us marched past her, steps in sync like we had been doing this for years. Adam stood nervously by the TARDIS, having the decency to look ashamed of himself.

“I’m alright now. Much better.”  _ Don’t care. _ “And I’ve got the key. Look, it’s.”

_ ‘Strike one.’ _

“It all worked out for the best, didn’t it?”

_ ‘Strike two.’ _

“You know, it’s not actually my fault.” Adam met the Doctor’s gaze. “Because you were in charge.”

_ ‘And BOOM! It’s out of the park!’ _

I was too fast for anyone to stop me. My hand went out, slapping Adam across the face.

The man fell to the ground, the slap causing an echo across the small space. The Doctor and Rose looked at me in surprise, while Cathica was just a teensy bit terrified. A fifteen year old had slapped a grown (debatable) man (debateable, again) to the ground from her point of view.

His cheek was already turning red. I kneeled down, keeping on one leg as my hand grabbed Adam’s shirt collar.

I pulled him up, enough so that he could hear my words without distraction. “I don’t let people talk to my friends like that.” I said in a detached voice. It had been my first time speaking since we left Floor 500. “Get inside the TARDIS.”

The tech could only stare in shock as I callously shoved him back to the ground. Once on my feet, I crossed my arms and glared coldly at him. He ran faster than a blink.

 

==CON==

 

It was a silent ride to Adam’s house. The Doctor had traced the phone call to his mother’s house, not needing Adam to say a word. I kept him in the cushion chair, not trusting him to keep away from the TARDIS.

Once we landed, I barely waited a second before angrily shoving Adam out of the TARDIS.

He stumbled into his house, only barely catching his footing.

“It’s my house. I’m home! Oh, my God, I’m home! Blimey.” Adam looked to the Doctor and I, smiling like we weren’t plotting his death. “I thought you were going to chuck me out of an airlock.”

“I didn’t want Rose to see that.” I stated, coldly.

The Doctor seemed to be in agreement. I stood by his side, content to keep cold amber eyes on Adam. “Is there something else you want to tell me?” He gave Adam a chance.

“No. What do you mean?” Adam lied.

The Doctor marched over to the answering machine, glaring at the tech. “The archive of Satellite Five. One second of that message could’ve changed the world.”

I smirked at Adam’s downcast expression when the phone exploded.

“That’s it, then. See you.” The Time Lord marched back to the TARDIS.

“How do you mean,  _ see you _ ?” Adam asked.

Rose and I stood on the sidelines, though for different reasons. I liked seeing Adam get told off, and Rose was probably remembering ‘ _ on your own head _ ’.

“As in goodbye.”

“But what about me? You can’t just go. I’ve got my head. I’ve got a chip type two. My head opens.” Adam whined.

“What, like this?” The Doctor said, a bit of glee in his eyes as he snapped his fingers.

The head opened. Adam gave the Doctor an annoyed look. “Don’t.” Adam closed his head.

The Doctor feigned innocence, snapping again. “Don’t do what?”

“Stop it!” Adam whined.

“Fun party trick.” I snapped my fingers.

“Oi.” Adam snapped his fingers.

“Sorry, what?” Open.

“Leave it!” Close.

“All right now, Doctor, Terra, that’s enough. Stop it.” Rose finally spoke. 

Adam sighed, relieved. “Thank you.” Until Rose snapped her fingers. “Oi!”

“Sorry, I couldn’t resist.” Though her time said the exact opposite.

Adam closed his head, and I physically had to fight the urge to snap again.

The Doctor was back in Oncoming Storm mode. “The whole of history could have changed because of you.”

“I just wanted to help.” Adam tried.

“You were being a selfish jerk, who only cared about himself.” I half growled. “Rose  _ trusted _ you with that stuff; with her key and her phone, but you betrayed her and nearly got her  _ killed _ because of it.”

Adam frowned, for a moment I actually believed his regret. “And I’m sorry. I’ve said I’m sorry, and I am, I really am, but neither of you can just leave me like this.” He pointed up at his head.

“Yes we can.” The Oncoming Storm stated. “‘Cause if you show that head to anyone, they’ll dissect you in seconds. You’ll have to live a very quiet life. Keep out of trouble. Be average, unseen.”

_ It was everything he didn’t want to be, but it had to be done. He made his bed, and now he has to sleep in it. _

“Good luck.” The Time Lord opened the TARDIS door.

The tech pouted like a petulant child. “But I want to come with you.”

“I only take the best.” The Doctor had passed the point of caring. “I’ve got Terra and Rose.”

And for the next ten minutes, I had a giddy smile. He said I was the best. I wasn’t a disgrace to the Time Lords...

...until my memory problems came back, and I realized I still could’ve been a disgrace.


	11. Terra Who?

It was ‘night time’ on the TARDIS. Rose had gone off to bed. I wouldn’t need to sleep for another day or two, so I was only delaying the inevitable. The Doctor was fixing things up under the console.

I was back in my hoodie, though I was working on adding upgrades to it. Just little things, like stitching up tears and adding these cool nanobots I invented. Even if I could regulate my body temperature, I still wanted to be cooler than that. The nanobots would turn the hoodie into a walking freezer. It would take some time, maybe a day or two. There’d be some issue getting them into the lining of my hoodie, and my other clothes. Not to mention I’d have to make them from as little metal as possible so as not to alert metal detectors.

Okay. I might start going a little overboard with my inventions now that the Doctor knows what kind of alien I am. There was just so much I could be honest about now. I could talk about all my jobs and not get the usual confused stares, or distrust. I could say I’ve met other aliens, and talk about all the cool things I’ve done and not feel ashamed. It was a new feeling.

It had been hours since we kicked Adam out. I avoided the Doctor, sticking to my room, the library, and the kitchen.  _ Idris knew just what food I was craving. _ We were avoiding each other, as whenever he entered the kitchen he promptly turned and walked out. It didn’t offend me. I did the same when I saw him in the library.

Once Rose was off to bed, I knew there was no point in prolonging it. The Doctor and I needed to talk. A part of me thinks Rose even went to bed early because she could see how bad it was. Pops’ home box would have to wait, I was too nervous about my conversation with the Doctor.

He was beneath the console, twisting various wires unlike he was during  _ Unquiet Dead _ . He seemed not to have a particular thing to fix, he was just doing it for a distraction.

I cleared my throat.

The Doctor’s response was almost comical. He hit his head on the metal grating, and accidentally crossed two wires to create sparks. “Ouch!” He yelped, waving his hand as most of the sparks landed on him.

Even with my hesitation, I smirked. Seeing him be his usual idiotic self made me feel less anxious.

When the Time Lord climbed out from his hole, he went to the console. He actively avoided eye contact. “Terra. Surprised seeing you up.”

“Don’t need to sleep for a few days.” I supplied, nervously shifting on my feet.

The Doctor nearly asked why, until suddenly remembering. Looks like both of us would have some time getting used to this.

“So. I bet you’ve got questions.” The Doctor said, downtrodden.

He had told me about the Time War, that we were the Last of our kind. Recently he went  _ round the bend _ attacking the last Dalek, and admitting to being the one that killed everyone. It...it wasn’t a great place to start. So, I went with the one that seemed most important.

“Everything I know about my old life on Earth I learned.” I explained, not wanting to straight out admit my theories of Time Lord banishment. “Anything from before I regenerated about my home life is gone. I remember all of my adventures, and those but any time I try to remember my Earth family, or the...other one, I just get this blankness.”

The Doctor paused a while before answering. He knew the explanation, but just didn’t want to voice it. “Like someone took away your memories.” I nodded. His voice lowered. I had to walk a bit closer to hear what he was saying. “And it’s been like that since you regenerated?” I nodded again.

He was quiet for a long time.

“I take it there’s nothing good about that.” I commented, on the line of dry and worried.

He let out a dry snort. “It was a punishment on...on our old planet.” It seemed he had trouble saying it too. Or maybe he was avoiding it for my sake. “For only the worst of crimes.”

I blanched. So I was right, I had committed a crime. “How big does it have to be?” I asked, unable to keep the tremor of fear out of my voice. “Whatever I did, I wouldn’t even remember doing it.”

“There’s interference, which was a big  _ no-no _ .” The Doctor explained. I smirked, snorting. “Yeah. I know. I wasn’t well liked. They sentenced me with a memory wipe of how to fly the TARDIS-”

“Never gave it back, did they?”

“Hush you. They did give it back, but...I wasn’t that great a flyer to begin with. Barely passed my exam.” The Doctor explained, that somber tone in his voice. “She’s meant to be flown by six, not one.”

“Only the Time Lords can bring them back?” I asked, voice soft.

He paused. Yeah, that was the main thing I picked up. “Yes.” The Doctor said. Though I could tell he really didn’t want to be saying it. “More specifically, the High Council.”

“ _ Time Lord High Council _ ?” I tried to joke. “Already pompous jerks, even more pompous?”

“Oh, so you remember them?” The Doctor joked with me.

The two of us chuckled, anything to avoid the really depressing facts he just told me.

“So...Time Lords.” I began.

The Doctor sat up, eyeing me carefully. “What about them?”

I paused, nervously adjusting in my seat. “What...what were they like?”

The Doctor seemed curious about this. “What do you mean? They wiped your mind.”

“Tell me anyway.” I said with a shrug, but my voice was determined. “Only one race is pure evil, and they’re Daleks. Our people may be total assholes, but not all of them. Some of them had to be nice. I’m nice. You’re nice...ish.”

“Oi!” The Doctor sounded offended, but he was smiling.

“ _ Stupid apes.” _ I said, mocking his accent.  _ “‘Are you plastic? No. Just thick.’” _

“I’m not always calling that lot apes.” The nine hundred year old alien argued.

Holding back a snort, I nodded at him. A smug smile on my face. “You’re right. You haven’t called  _ Rose _ an ape in a while.”

He had the decency to  _ blush _ . “Yeah, well, she’s smarter than the others.”

“ _ Oh. _ ” I teased him. “Someone’s getting attached to his  _ concubine _ .”

“You can stop calling her that.” The Time Lord reminded, annoyed.

“Nah. She likes it.” I smirked, walking over to the pilot seat. “She calls me  _ Doc Junior _ so it evens out-”

“Why does she call you that?” The Doctor asked, confused. He turned to me, pausing on his flight path or reconstruction or just idle tinkering.

He was the one who deflected the words off us, how does he not remember? “It was what Jabe called us on Platform One.” I said, not sure why he wouldn’t remember. “Remember? Kept calling Rose your girlfriend and I was your ward?”

For a moment, I thought I would have to explain it to the Doctor again. He looked confused about what I was saying, but not like he didn’t remember the event. It was like the idea itself confused him.

Of course. He would remember all his children, and if they were banished with memories cleared or otherwise. I  _ wasn’t _ his daughter, and I had just slammed that loss in his face flippantly.

“ _ Shit- _ story _ dammit _ -I’m sorry!” The words fumbled out of my mouth. My hands covered my mouth, in hopes of keeping me silent. “I didn’t mean to be- _ Story fucking damn it _ -”

The Doctor was staring at me intently, the corner of his lip upturned.

“I was just-We weren’t-” It dawned on me that he was grinning. “You  _ jerk _ .”

“Least I’m not swearing every other syllable.” He pointed out with glee. “What was your original title idea,  _ The Sailor _ ?”

“Title?”

“Time Lords pick their names, a title.” The Doctor explained, still laughing at his  _ Sailor _ joke. “Whatever they’d like. I picked the Doctor, you picked Terra Johnson.”

“Yeah, but, to be honest, I didn’t pick Johnson. It was picked for me.” I said. “I mean, the  _ Luna-Johnson’s  _ died, and I didn’t want to be Terra Luna, so.”

“You named yourself after them, still counts.” The Doctor said, looking smug about it. “But, not picking  _ Terra Luna _ was a good choice. You don’t look like  _ Terra Luna _ .” He finished, proudly crossing his arms over his chest.

I didn’t dignify that with a response. The only logical option was to change subjects. “I can’t sense another Time Lord, and you can’t either.”

The teasing grin fell. It was the ‘ _ oh yeah, she’s right _ ’ face.

“Time Lords are a telepathic race.” The Doctor began. “Your memories being blocked could just be a part of the punishment.” He looked down at his hand, then my head. “The other could be so that no other Time Lord could find you. Whatever you did in the past, the Time Lords didn’t want a chance of you doing it again.”

There it was. Another blunt reminder that I did something so horrible not even Time Lords wanted me.

_ ‘-children screaming for parents-’ _

_ ‘-a man screaming at me for Turning him-’ _

_ ‘-my face on posters, though with orange eyes-’ _

The TARDIS cut me out of my thoughts. She sent a warm humming into my mind, like a friend passionately arguing that you’re the best and no one should make you feel less. It made my eyes water in joy.

“The TARDIS can get inside my head, for translations.” I told him, in realization. “So, can’t we do something with that?”

“That’s a good point, actually.” The Time Lord mulled over it. “But it doesn’t explain why I can’t sense you to begin with. The TARDIS, if she could, would’ve fixed that ages ago. Your four feet away from me and you might as well not be.”

“Maybe she knew if she did, we’d both be too scared to accept it.” I offered. “I mean, come on. You knowing I was...I was apparently like you, don’t tell me you would’ve believed  _ ‘I can’t remember _ ’.”

“So...what do I have to do?”

“I don’t think it’s something  _ you _ do.” The Time Lord said. He looked down at his hand again. “I think it’s something I need to do.”

“Woah. Hold up. I was talking about making us aware of each other. You have to go inside my head?”

The mere idea of him coming in here, searching for memories that might not even exist anymore. He could find  _ Doctor Who _ easy as a blink. Beyond that, he could see I wasn’t a Time Lady until two months ago. He could see his future self, and the TARDIS.

He could see  _ them.  _ Darcy, how she was a killer and that I’ve helped her hide. My dark side, that I even let her exist in the first place.

“I wouldn’t go into your memories.” The Doctor stressed, voice calm and comforting. “I would only be in there for less than a minute. I’ll make the connection, with the TARDIS’ help, and then I’ll come back out.”

His words nearly convinced me. I glanced up at the green glowing rotor in worry.

“But...but what if I’d like...privacy?” I asked, getting anxious again.

The Doctor was beaming as if I already said yes. It was good seeing Nine so happy, you didn’t get that much. “I won’t be in your head all day. That’s just rude. It’ll be like talking. You can stop the conversation whenever you want. I won’t stay in there any longer than you don’t want.”

Story dammit that sounded good. It would be good to talk mentally, in case we were separated. It would be fun to talk telepathically again, I hadn’t done that in some decades. Either way, I owed the Doctor  _ something _ . I wasn’t a proper Time Lady, with any memory of the planet.

_ ‘A Time Lord is so much more. A sum of knowledge, a code, a shared history, a shared suffering. Only it’s gone now, all of it. Gone forever.’ _

Giving him telepathy was something, right?

“How will you do it?” I asked, cautious.

The Doctor’s smile widened. It was infectious, as I found my cheeks hurting with a smile. He came up to my side, hesitantly raising his hand to my temple.

“The TARDIS’ll help me in.” He began, back in lecture mode. “It’ll just feel a little crowded.” He gently put his fingertips on my temple.

I closed my eyes, and I felt him.

It was...odd. One second, I felt completely alone. The next, it was like walking into the middle of a college party.

I gasped as he pulled his hand away. The feeling was still there. It was like there was this small door in the back of my head, or maybe a string connected to something else.

“Woah.” I said, lifting my hand to my head. “ _ Trippy _ .”

“You...” Magoo blinked. “That was easier than I thought. I thought I’d get lost without the TARDIS helping. You’re head is just...organized.”

_ ‘50 years trapped inside it does wonders to your understanding of mental landscapes.’ _ I thought. I kept my mind shut from his, so he wouldn’t hear about  _ her _ .

Magoo shrugged. “It’s a bit odd. Usually when we’re young we don’t have such control over our mental abilities.”

“What else can Time Lords do?” I asked, excited.

 

==CON==

 

It was just sitting there.

The Doctor and I spent another four hours talking about Time Lords. I had an extra liver, apparently, and two more ribs. He  _ had  _ taught me how to regulate body temperature. There was also that cool thing I could do from  _ Smith and Jones _ with radioactive material. Magoo spent twenty minutes explaining which of the ones on Earth were too dangerous.

It was close to  _ ‘morning’ _ now. Doc had stopped the lesson, saying we could talk more later. Rose still thought we slept like her.  Going back to my room, I found my home box just sitting there.

I had no reason  _ not _ to open it. Except a billion. What if it was a trap? What if whoever brought it here wanted me to open it and be given fake coordinates for a trap?

With if not? What if it was actually my future self, creating a fake home box to help me get somewhere faster? This could be a call for help. It felt wrong though, it had to be from Pops’ world.

The next thought it hit harder than a train. It was jarring, I had to take a step away.

_ What if it lead me to Reichenbach Falls? _

There were too many theories running around my head, and too many unanswered questions. The only way to know for sure was to open it, and look.

My hands went to the sides, ready to heave the box up to the console room. There would be no turning back. Either this was from Pops, or it wasn’t. Pops had either found his way here, or he hadn’t. I would be seeing him again (and having to pretend I wasn’t Mahina) or I wouldn’t be. I would have to remember Hero-

“You know what Idris?” I hopped away from the desk, holding up my hoodie sleeves. “I should make those nanobots. I have a lot of clothes to get started on. Who knows what we’ll get before  _ Father’s Day _ .”

So I walked out of my room, the box untouched on my desk.


	12. Father's Day

It was four days before Rose came up to us, wanting to see her dad.

We had been on other adventures, in the meantime. The Doctor took Rose and I to California at the start of the Gold Rush. Then there was this festival in India he was excited to show us. It was a colorful one, I’ll give them that.

At night, when Rose slept, the Doctor and I continued with lessons on the Time Lords. It was on the biology more than history, so not so exciting. I preferred showing off.

I was showing my freezer hoodie to him before Rose came in.

The Doctor had his hand inside, I had it set to 65 degrees Fahrenheit (18.3 Celsius) so it was chilly. He looked excited that I had managed to do it.

“And it’s all nanobots?” He asked, feeling the fabric as if to search for them.

I nodded, beaming. “They’re made of this polycarbonate material so it won’t set off metal detectors.” In my jean pocket, I pulled out a remote no bigger than a phone. There was a dial in the middle, with the temperature around it. “I can control it with this. It’s at 65 Fahrenheit right now, so kinda chilly. I can make it lower if we land in the desert or something. Or, the opposite and make it warmer for other climates. Just pushing the button down to set it at that temperature. I made extras for my other clothes and a jacket for Rose.”

The Doctor smirked. “I taught you about how we can regulate our core temperature, right?” He held the hoodie out to me.

“And the respiratory bypass. I just like to be kept cool.” I explained, putting the hoodie back on. “I’m still working on working them into my jeans. It’ll take a couple days.”

“Someone’s excited.” The Doctor commented, getting back to his work on the TARDIS.

“I just haven’t had someone to brag to in _ages_ !” I cheered. _‘Darcy got bored of this stuff when she hit puberty.’_ I thought, keeping up a sort of mental block so the Doctor couldn’t hear.

Though it was cool to be able to talk telepathically, I kept reminding myself that I wasn’t an actual Time Lady. I was a Jumper, a dimensional traveller. I had a sister, a father that I’m not sure is dead or not,

“The nanobots have a few drawbacks.” I admitted. “For instance, they take a couple days to make. They make you invisible to cameras, which _sounds_ fun, until you need an alibi.”

Magoo smiled good naturedly. “There’s a story behind that one.”

“Not inclined to share.” I smiled sarcastically. The Time Lord only laughed. It was loud, and struck up the somber thought of _-do I ever make Eleven laugh that loudly? Before I led him to his death?_

Eleven kept coming into my head, whether I wanted him there or not. It oddly felt like cheating on the Doctor, which was stupid because I didn’t have _any_ sort of feelings towards either. Eleven was just always in my mind, just like Oswin and my Fourth self. It was perfectly reasonable, they were my first faces.

It was a topic I hadn’t brought up with the Doctor. Though I saw how much he loved Rose, and Amy. Sarah Jane, too. She had to be the Fourth Doctor’s first face. It was hard to say for the Master, like maybe just hearing the Doctor was enough to cause an obsession? I really wish The TARDIS would just give me a book on this.

I also saw what happened when the relationships fell apart. The Doctor cried, and talked about Rose constantly, and he still called Sarah Jane his best friend. The rest of Season 7 hasn’t come out, but it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to know he’ll be mourning the Ponds for a long time. The Master...well he wasn’t the best source of normal for Time Lords.

What would happen to me? My first faces died because of me.

“Doctor.” I began, voice soft. He kept his eyes on me. “I...I told you I regenerated, a couple days ago, right?”

“Yes.” The Doctor acknowledged. He sat down on the pilot seat, toying with a ball he had plucked off the console. “And that your memory of the Johnson and Luna family only goes that far back.”

“Okay. So, um.” I swallowed the lump in my throat. “What if...what if a Time Lord regenerates...in front of somebody?”

He looked up at me, as if I had just said the worst thing I could’ve said. “What?”

His response only made me more nervous about asking. “What if I... _changed_ in front of someone? Like, does that leave some kind of impact on me?” I asked, hands awkwardly fiddling with the remote. _‘Is what I’m feeling normal? Please tell me it is.’_

The Doctor was staring at me with these wide eyes of shock. “Sometimes it does.” He replied, cautious. “Especially if you care about them before.” The Doctor came a little closer. “Do you?”

“I don’t know yet.” The words came out too fast to stop them. “I...I mean...” _‘I mean my future self cared about them so much she was willing to die alone just so they could stay safe. And I stupidly sent them back. Four sacrificed herself for nothing.’_ “If I regenerated in front of someone, and something happened to them because of me, what does that mean for me?”

Whatever answer the Time Lord was going to give was cut off when Rose came into the console room.

In the relaxed time, it was like Rose couldn’t get far enough from us. She spent a lot of time locked up in her room, which troubled me. That’s coming from _me_. My own family doesn’t see me outside of school and the occasional dinner. Rose’s distant even showed in the adventures. She rarely gave input, and when she did she always sounded unsure.

I think what we did to Adam was a bit much for her. Was she scared she was next? The Doctor said she was the best, so she didn’t think she was being kicked out. So what else could it be? Well, maybe she was thinking about how best to bring up seeing her dad?

Her sudden appearance made me realize how close the Doctor had walked to me. I walked away, just to the part of the console with the computer.

The companion looked like she had seen better days. She hadn’t put on any of her makeup yet, her hair was just in a messy bun behind her head. Without a word, she walked up to my side and gripped the console. She looked like the very words out of her mouth caused strain. They probably did.

“Peter Alan Tyler my dad.” Rose looked down at her shoes, forlorn. “The most wonderful man in the world. Born 15th September 1954.”

The Doctor and I listened carefully. The Time Lord didn’t know much about Rose’s father, only Jackie (I’m still laughing at her slap and how she flirted with him). The father was a mystery, one I had researched when trying to find her address.

“He was always having adventures.” She stammered, looking up to the Doctor. “That’s what Mum always says.” I couldn’t stop the smile. “So I was thinking, could we, could we go and see my dad when he was still alive?”

“Where’s this come from, all of a sudden?” The Time Lord asked.

“All right then, if we can’t, if it goes against the laws of times or something, then never mind, just leave it.” Rose immediately toned it down, some spite in her voice.

“Rose, it’s fine.” I assured, turning to the girl slowly becoming my friend. “We can do it. We’re more worried about _you_.”

She looked at us with shaky determination. “I want to see him.”

The Doctor grinned broadly. “Your wish is my command. But be careful what you wish for.”

He hopped off the pilot seat, reaching over to pull down the handbrake. He sent a quick look me way, telling me our conversation earlier was only on pause.

 

==CON==

 

The first stop was their wedding. It wasn’t a big affair, they were basically eloping. Though Jackie was in a nice dress.

“I, Peter Alan Tyler, take you, Jacqueline Angela Suzette Prentice-” The registrar stated.

Pete nervously looked to Jackie. “I, Peter Alan Tyler, take you, Jacqueline Suzanne Suzette Anita-”

I was looking down at my nails. Weddings had been fun on occasion, but Terra Two was bored of the whole affair.

Jackie brushed them off. “Oh, just carry on. It’s good enough for Lady Di.”

The Doctor looked to Rose, he was beaming. I snorted at Jackie, who looked almost Rose’s age.

“I thought he’d be taller.” Rose commented.

I shook my head, crossing my arms. Leaning back in my seat, I elbowed the Doctor. ‘ _Rose is just angry because her shortness is genetic on both sides.’_

Magoo didn’t smile like I had hoped. Guess my humor didn’t make the situation any better. My question about First Faces must still be worrying him. I’d said too much about it, how could I explain it without everything blowing up in my face?

The companion was staring at her parents, turning away from the Doctor and I once she knew I was looking.

What was going on in that head of her’s? Was she thinking about how to convince us to take us to his death? Repeating the request in her head, trying to make it sound reasonable to us. Or she could just be shocked at meeting her father. I don’t know, just something about the dejected look in her whiskey colored eyes was making me feel on edge.

It felt like I was losing both of them.

“To be my lawful wedded wife, to love and behold till death us do part.”

 

==CON==

 

After the wedding, Rose explained how Pete did in the car accident. She told us of her mother’s wish that someone had been there when her father died. Even if I hadn’t seen the episode, I would know what she was asking.

“I want to be that someone, so he doesn’t die alone.” Rose explained.

A part of me just wanted to walk away now. It was reminding me just too much of what happened at the Reichenbach Falls. Plus, it was reminding me that I don’t know what happened to Pops. Even if I checked the homebox, it wouldn’t say what had happened since the box left the ship.

“November the 7th?” The Doctor asked her. He was all for it, more than in the show. He must want to get it all over with so he can yell at me about what happened when I died.

“1987.” Rose added.

“Be careful.” I teased. Rose turned to me. “Magoo’ll probably miss by a few blocks.”

The Doctor sent me a smirk. Rose only looked on with worry, biting at her nails. The joke would have made her laugh before the Dalek, what caused this change?

She stared at the door when we landed, uncertainty in her eyes.

 

==CON==

 

I walked out of the TARDIS first, hearing kids playing at a nearby park. It was a cold day, but I didn’t change the setting on my hoodie. _‘I’m a snowman, everybody. Cold is my happy place.’_

The Doctor and Rose followed behind me. I tuned them out, just appreciating landing somewhere cold.

“It’s so weird. The day my father died.” I turned to her. The companion was looking around the empty street. “I thought it’d be all sort of grim and stormy.” Rose mumbled. “It’s just an ordinary day.”

“The past is another country. 1987’s just the Isle of Wight.” The Doctor explained. “Are you sure about this?”

“We won’t think less of you if you want to go back.” I added.

Rose nodded, hesitant. “Yeah.”

 

==CON==

 

There was a few blocks to walk (as I predicted, haha) before getting to Jordan Road. I stared a couple seconds at the _Bad Wolf_ poster before joining my friends. I stood on Rose’s left, hands in my hoodie pocket but mentally prepared to hold them out if need be.

“This is it. Jordan Road.” Rose took on that soft voice again. “He was late. He’d been to get a wedding present, a vase. Mum always said, _that stupid vase_.” She laughed tearfully.

I turned my head, just as Pete’s car came around.

“He got out of his car.” The companion narrated. Pete pulled up to the side, just a couple dozen yards away. “And crossed the road. Oh, God. This is it.” She whimpered.

Pete walked out of his car, going to the other side to pull out the vase.

Magoo took Rose’s hand. With just a second’s hesitation, I reached out to take the other. She pulled her hand up to her mouth, biting on the nail. I was hurt at the gesture, my hand sliding back into the hoodie pocket. There was a second of thought that she did it on purpose. She couldn’t have though, she didn’t even see me reaching for her.

The van drove by. It occurred to me in that second we were about to watch a man _die_ so Rose could hold his hand. It was incredibly morbid, even for my tastes.

Rose buried her face into the Doctor’s shoulder.

Pete dropped his vase.

The van drove away.

Rose pulled herself away from the Doctor, only to see Pete comatose on the street.

“Go to him, quick.” The Doctor tried to move her along.

“We got your back.” I encouraged.

But she didn’t. She just stared with watering eyes at her dying father.

 

==CON==

 

The three of us were crouched in the alley, backs against the hard bricks.

“It’s too late now. By the time the ambulance got there, he was dead.” She admitted.

I laid my head against the brick wall, letting out a small sigh.

“He can’t die on his own.” Rose looked to us. Her mascara was running. “Can I try again?”

Like the pansies we were, we agreed.

 

==CON==

 

The second time around was somehow more somber than the first.

I could see my past self, _definitely_ reminded of Reichenbach. It was even worse because I knew that version wouldn’t exist soon.

“Right, that’s the first you, Terra and me.” The Doctor explained. “It’s a very bad idea, two sets of us being here at the same time. Just be careful they don’t see us. Wait till she runs off and he follows, then go to your dad.”

The green car pulled up to the side of the road.

“Oh, God. This is it.” Her past self breathed.

Our Rose was almost shaking. “I can’t do this.”

“Rose, you don’t have to do anything.” I assured. “But we can’t come here again.”

Past Terra was about to reach for Rose’s hand, the companion caught sight so she jerked it away. I could see in that moment that Rose _had_ seen me. That brought a whole new wave of hurt.

So much so, that I wasn’t aware Rose went after Pete until she was already at the kerb.

“Rose! No!” The Doctor yelled.

“Stop!” I shouted.

The blonde ran past our past selves. The faded in sparkles of yellow.

Rose pushed Pete just before the car drove over him. The case rolled away, intact.

My jaw dropped.

“I did it.” The blonde gaped in disbelief. “I saved your life.”

“Blimey, did you see the speed of it?” Pete asked, looking to Rose. “Did you get his number?”

She was too absorbed in her victory. “I really did it. Oh, my God, look at you.” She said, in shock herself. “You’re alive! That car was going to kill ya!”

“Give me some credit, I did see it coming.” Pete replied. “I wasn’t going to walk under it, was I.”

His daughter smiled. “I’m Rose.”

Pete smiled back. “That’s a coincidence. That’s my daughter’s name.”

“That’s a great name. Good choice. Well done.” She nodded.

Jaw was still down, and it was starting to hurt.

“Right, I’d better shift.” Pete excused himself. “I’ve got a wedding to go to.”

“Is that Sarah Clarke’s wedding?” Rose asked.

“Yeah, are you going?” Pete asked.

Rose nodded. “Yeah.”

Pete motioned his head towards the Doctor and I. “You and your friends need a lift? Hope your boyfriend don’t mind.”

 

==CON==

 

Pete drove us to his apartment in his tiny little car.

I was in a weird state of shock. My mind just kept wondering why I didn’t do more to stop her. There would have been more, but the Doctor was letting waves of annoyance and hate float over in the mental link. It made my brain just stop. He wasn’t angry at me, but it was still freaking me out.

Walking into Pete’s apartment, which would later be Jackie’s, was odd. I could see the big differences from the house of new parents and the house of a widow. Less pictures of Rose in her school year, no trashy romances, no sense of it being turned into a home. _‘You know when you see a photograph of someone you know, but it’s from years before you knew them, and it’s like they’re not quite finished.’_

The unwitting survivor smiled at us, not knowing Rose was his child, Doc was her love interest, and I was a tagalong.

“Right, there we go. Sorry about the mess.” Pete remarked. “If you want a cup of tea, the kitchens just down there, milk’s in the fridge.” He offered, adding a nervous laugh. “Well, it would be, wouldn’t it. Where else would you put the milk?”

The Doctor gave a forceful smile. Mine was more nervous, anxious about that upcoming fight.

“Mind you, there’s always the window sill outside.” Pete spoke, sounding more focused than before. “I always thought if someone invented a window sill with special compartments, you know, one for milk, one for yogurt, make a lot of money out of that. Sell it to students and things.” He paused in thought. “I should write that down.”

My Storyline...I think I just found the Doctor’s gob.

“Anyway, never mind that, excuse me for a minute.” Pete brushed off. “Got to go and change.”

The Doctor nodded, moving out of the inventor’s way. I was dealing with the fact the Doctor picked another aspect of his next self for Rose. _‘Did they give me anything?’_ I thought. _‘My hair_ does _look like Oswin’s...and maybe this body is like Eleven’s gangly limbs.’_

The girl walked further into the apartment. I let my hands slide into my hoodie pocket. I was toying with the temperature gauge, keeping it cold in the hoodie. The blonde was showing us Pete’s little trophies.

“All the stuff mum kept. His stuff.” She commented. At my side, the Doctor was finally telling us how he felt. “She kept it all packed away in boxes in the cupboard. She used to show me when she’d had a bit to drink. Here it is, on display. Where it should be.”

_‘*Jaws theme plays in the background.* I’m gonna need a bigger spaceship.’_

The blonde kept on. She could tell she knew what she did was wrong, but she kept fighting for it anyway. Not gonna lie, I was worried for her.

“Third prize at the bowling. First two got to go to Didcot.” Rose explained. Her eyes widened when she saw the drinks by the Doctor’s feet. “Health drinks. _Tonics_ , mum used to call them. He made his money selling this Vitex stuff. He had all sorts of jobs. He was so clever.”

It was a positive, that he made bank on Vitex in Pete’s World. A bright side to everything. Even the Doctor and Rose’s upcoming fight. _‘All couples have a rough patch.’_

“Solar power. Mum said he was going to do this. Now he can.” Rose finished.

_‘Mayday. Mayday. Abort mission. Abort mission. Rose Tyler, I suggest you run.’_

Seeing as she couldn’t read my mind, Rose didn’t go back. “Okay, look I’ll tell him you’re not my boyfriend.”

The Doctor stared at her, with cold blue eyes. “When we met, I said travel with me in space. You said no. Then I said _time machine_.”

“It wasn’t some big plan.” She argued. “I just saw it happening and I thought, _I can stop it_.”

“I did it again. I picked another _stupid_ ape.” The Doctor angrily stated. “I should’ve known. It’s not about showing you the universe. It never is. It’s about the universe doing something for you.”

The blonde scoffed. “So it’s okay when you go to other times, and you save people’s lives, but not when it’s me saving my dad.”

“I know what I’m doing, you don’t. Two sets of us being there made that a vulnerable point.” He replied as if it explained everything. Well, it kinda did.

“But he’s alive!” Rose fumed.

“My entire planet died. My whole _family_ . Do you think it never occurred to me to go back and save _them_?” The Doctor countered.

Rose turned to me, something just clicked at the sight. “If Terra asked to see the Johnsons, you would’ve let _her_ do what she wanted.”

I scoffed. Really, she brought _that_ up? To my _face_ ? “I wouldn’t have gone to _see them_ because I don’t _remember them_ ! Got that? You don’t get to use them against me. I wouldn’t even _think_ about going back to safe them. _”_

Rose kept on. “They’re your family! How could you _not_ wanna save them?”

“Because they died _saving my life_.” I stated.

Rose blinked. This wasn’t a side of the story she’d heard.

“Someone was trying to kill me, and they died keeping me safe.” _‘Well, actually, I died anyway, but I regenerated. Just another sacrifice I made meaningless.’_ I thought it over _. ‘And, now I that I think about it, I think Logan ended up getting what he wanted anyway. I don’t know, I couldn’t exactly ask them.’_ “I don’t want to see them, Rose, can’t you at least respect my decision?”

Rose gulped. There was a heavy silence from the Doctor. I don’t know if any of my thoughts floated into his mind. It turned out that I didn’t have to, because Magoo reached over to put a comforting hand on my wrist.

 _‘I’m sorry.’_ He spoke comfortingly in my mind.

I wanted to flinch away. His words did give some comfort, but I didn’t want him to touch me. I ended being the thing that killed him. Succeeding where Daleks, Cybermen, and Kovarian failed.

The wrist holding was apparently the wrong thing to do. Rose’s eyes narrowed at me, as if my even being there was enough reason to say this. “If you had a dad, you wouldn’t feel like that.”

My jaw dropped. She...She had _not_ just said that. She hadn’t. She couldn’t have.

I didn’t say anything, just stared at Rose with a heartbroken frown on my face. It slowly came to her that she had taken it too far, but she kept her resolve. Instead of arguing with her, cursing at her enough to earn the title Sailor, or giving her a Johnson Slap, I just turned and walked out the door.

 

==CON==

 

There’s this scene in Monsters Inc., one that I think is the saddest scene ever. Sully and Mike were thrown onto the Himalayas, by Waternoose who was holding the crying Boo. Sully tried to go right back, opening the door to stop Boo from crying. It was just a door frame though. Waternoose had turned off the power. (I was terrified of spiders because of him. You would be too if he was chasing you, wanting your screams to power his dystopia.)

Sorry. That was me, getting off topic in my stress. The point is, Sully couldn’t the door to take him where he really wanted.

_‘Pops...I lost him again.’_

My mind had gone blank since leaving the Tyler flat. The box was gone.

My father back Home wasn’t exactly an A plus parent. He was a sports coach, a math teacher, and principal of a high school. He liked the _tough love_ , except on my athletic, scholastic, and all around better younger brothers. I didn’t play sports, or doing any of the math since I’ve gone to high school ten times. Dad didn’t see any of my accomplishments in Jumping, just my disappointments at Home.

Pops...Pops was never like that. Ever. It helped that I was an only child there, with just six hundred cousins.

Rose didn’t know Dad, or Pops. She didn’t know all the things I had done for Pops, and vice-versa. Helping him capture 626, helping him find all the 624 experiments lost on Kaui’i, helping him fix that stupid old homebox. He was my _father_.

There was nothing, not even a hum from the TARDIS. The only noise in my head was just my Time Lord sense, telling me the Doctor was getting closer.

I kept opening and closing the door. Every slam took more air out of my lungs. It was hard to breathe, but until I had his box in my arms.

I found out how close when the Doctor pulled me away from the empty box. He was pissed.

“It’s gone. The box is gone.” I mumbled,  not enough air in my lungs to say much. My eyes went back to the empty ship in fear. The hair on my neck stood up. “I-I didn’t know what to do.”

His own eyes widened. He looked overhead, in the bare tree. I looked as well, sending the Reaper in the tree.

 _‘Invisible tree thing?’_ I asked, too emotionally exhausted to speak.

The Doctor took protective hold of my arm. _‘The only things with enough energy to make the TARDIS powerless. It’s called a Reaper. When time is damaged, they come to sterilize the wound by erasing the wound. It used to be the job of the Time Lords, until...’_

 _‘Time is damaged by us saving Peter Tyler?’_ I asked. _‘So that means he’s in the most trouble.’_

“Rose!” The two of us realized.

 

==CON==

 

It took all we had to get us to the church in time.

You could see the damage as we ran. Their weren’t as much people as their should have been. The cars were all parked in the middle of the road. Some people hadn’t been as lucky, and their cars crashed into trees or buildings. Neither of us slowed at all in this: Rose was in danger.

The church was in sight a block away. I pushed myself harder, Magoo just behind me. People were walking into the church, including a young Jackie Tyler and a Baby Rose Tyler.

On the sidewalk, eyes downcast like a child learning about Santa, was our Rose Tyler. There was an oddness floating over her head, like there had been all over the town and the TARDIS.

“ _Inside!_ ” I screamed at her.

“Rose!” The Doctor shouted with me. “Get in the church!”

Rose turned us, looking happy and relieved at the sight. It confused her for a second to hear us so worried.

That was when she saw the Reaper hovering above her head.

She screamed.

The Time Lord zoomed past me, tackling Rose to the concrete. I was barely able to stop and drop before the Reaper could get its claws on me.

The others in the wedding party looked up in the sky, more Reapers appearing. The Doctor hopped up, eyes scanning the crowd. “Get in the church!” He shouted at them. I helped Rose to her feet, holding her wrist as I walked her towards the church.

“Oh, my God.” The bride’s friend gasped. “What are they? What are they?”

“Inside!” I shouted again.

The Reaper hissed at us, diving down to look for the right meal.

“Sarah!” Stuart shouted.

The Doctor ran through the crowd, shouting at the people walking out of the church. “Stay in there!”

I tripped right to Rose’s wrist. She kept her eyes on the Reapers. A man in the church ran, only to be caught by a Reaper. A very pregnant Sarah screamed as another came to her, but it pounced on the priest instead.

 _‘I’ve been to worse wedding’s_.’

The Doctor began herding the crowd. “In!” I was dragging Rose behind me. Baby Rose was sobbing in her carrier.

Once we were in the safety of the church, the Time Lord and I slammed the doors shut. I listened to the Reapers’ screeching outside.

Rose stood just a yard away. Her whiskey eyes following us, confused and alert. Also maybe a tiny bit of guilt.

“We’re safe, right?” I asked, lightly panting. Gotta love Time Lady biology. “They can’t get in.”

“It’s the old windows and doors. Okay. The older something is, the stronger it is. What else?” He scanned the area, looking for weak points. He pointed at the small crowd. “Go and check the other doors! Move!”

He hopped over to a nearby door. I followed behind, if only to get some distance from Rose. I was still pissed at what she said about Pops, and what her stupid paradox was doing to him.

“What’s happening? What are they? What are they?” Jackie asked, scared. She pulled me away from the door, and grabbed the Doctor.

The Time Lord pulled himself out of her hands. “There’s been an accident in time. A _wound_ in time.” He corrected. “They’re like bacteria, taking advantage.” The Doctor explained curtly.

“And if they get you, you get wiped from existence.” I added. You could see it in the streets, people eaten without leaving a trace. You didn’t even hear it.

“What do you mean, time? What’re you jabbering on about, _time_?” Jackie asked.

“Someone just shut her up.” I mumbled. My hands fiddled with the AC dial in my hoodie, turning it down a few more degrees. _Keep cool, keep cool._

“Oh, I might’ve known she’d argue.” The Doctor remarked to me. “Jackie, I’m sick of you complaining.”

“How do you know my name?”

“I haven’t got time for this.”

“I’ve never met you in my life!”

“No, and you never will unless I sort this out. Now, if you don’t mind, I’ve waited a long time to say this.” The Doctor stated her down. “Jackie Tyler, do as I say. Go and check the doors.”

Jackie hesitated. “Yes, sir.”

The Doctor turned to me, letting a smile come out. “I should have done that ages ago.”

I gave him a congratulatory fist bump.

The groom walked up right after. “My dad was out there.”

“You can mourn him later.” The Doctor stated. “Right now we’ve got to concentrate on keeping ourselves alive.”

“My dad had-” Stuart reached for his dad’s phone.

“There’s nothing I can do for him.” The Doctor stressed.

 _‘Magoo. He knows_ .’ I thought. The Doctor paused. _‘That’s why he’s pulling out the phone.’_

“ _No_ , but he had this phone thing.” Stuart gave the Doctor the phone. “I can’t get it to work. I keep getting this voice.”

_“Watson, come here. I need you. Watson, come here. I need you.”_

“Wait a second. I know that voice. That’s Alexander Graham Bell. His first phone call.” I acknowledged. “I don’t think the telephone’s going to be much help.”

The Time Lord gave me a look. “You knew Alexander Graham Bell’s _voice_?” The Doctor asked, losing the anxiety in his voice.

I awkwardly scratched at the back of my neck. “Yeah...I might have accidentally helped him _make_ the telephone.”

“But someone must have called the police.” Stuart said.

My mind went right to the TARDIS. The box that felt like home, family, was now a pedestrian box on the street. “No cop can help us now.” I snapped. I walked to the others in the wedding party, especially Rose. “ _Nothing_ can hurt those things out there, alright?”

“Time’s been damaged and they’ve come to sterilize the wound.” The Doctor walked up behind me. He and Rose had an intense eye lock. “By consuming everything inside.”

Rose’s lip quivered. “Is this because...” She gulped. “Is this my fault?”

Neither of us answered her.

 

==CON==

 

I was checking doors with Pete, anything to keep my mind off the TARDIS and Pops. You could hear the occasional scream outside, the smoke rising up over buildings.

The Doctor ran in as I finished sealing the window. Pete walked up to my other side.

“There’s smoke coming up from the city but no sirens. I don’t think it’s just us.” Pete explained. “I think these things are all over the place. Maybe the whole world.”

I saw the car from earlier, the car that would kill Pete. The car he jumped in front of to keep his daughter safe. That poor driver, just a kid, being dragged into all of this.

 _‘This’ll crush Rose.’_ The Doctor thought. I bristled. _‘The only way to fix the paradox is for Pete to die.’_

When Pete dies, the Reapers will go away. The Reapers vanishing will restore time including the TARDIS. That gives me back my homebox. So Rose has to lose her father, so I can have a chance at mine. What kind of monster forces that kind of choice on someone?

_Me, apparently._

“Was that a car?” Pete asked.

“Not important.” Was my instant response.

“Don’t worry about it.” The Time Lord added, walking out of the room. I followed right behind him.

 

==CON==

 

Pulling back a thick blue curtain, I let the Doctor work at the doors. I had seen Rose walk off to have her talk with Pete, so it wouldn’t be long before Pete died.

 _‘So, how can we do this without hurting Pete_?’ I asked.

The Doctor pushed on the door. _‘If you’ve got any ideas, feel free to say.’_ He though. It wasn’t hard to miss the annoyance in his mental tone. _‘If I had the TARDIS, then I could use it to patch up the damage. It was thrown out of time because of the paradox.’_

I nodded, tying the curtain back. _‘Could the sonic calm her back? Like, some homing device?’_

 _‘No...but if we get out of this, that’s a great idea.’_ The Doctor remarked.

Stuart and Sarah walked up to us. “Excuse me, Mister, Miss-”

“Doctor.”

“Terra.”

“The two of you seem to know what’s going on.” Stuart went on.

“I give that impression, yeah.”

“Top of my résumé.”

“I just wanted to ask-” He fumbled.

Sarah took the initiative. “Can you save us?” She pleaded.

 _‘Storyline dammit. How can I say no to that?’_ I turned to the wedding couple, noticing the extended stomach. _‘Especially when a child’s involved. I always seem to cave when a child’s involved.’_

The Doctor sent a laugh in my mind. _‘It’s impossible to say no to a crying child.’_ The two of us walked over to the nervous couple. “Who are you two, then?” He asked the humans.

“Stuart Hoskins.” The groom mumbled.

“Sarah Clark.” The bride added.

“And the plus one?” I commented. “Do you know of it’s a boy or a girl?” I asked softly.

Sarah’s hand went to her stomach. “I don’t know. I don’t _want_ to know, really.”

The Doctor looked between them. “How did all this get started?”

The couple turned to each other. Stuart had a goofy lovestruck grin. “Outside the Beatbox Club, two in the morning.”

“Street corner. I’d lost my purse, didn’t have money for a taxi.” Sarah beamed.

“I took her home.” The groom admitted, shyly.

“And asked her out?” I asked, grinning.

Sarah giggled. “Wrote his number on the back of my hand.” She marveled.

“Never got rid of her since.” Stuart joked. It reminded me of my sister. It got a smirk out of me. “My dad said-” He stopped. He remembered his father’s passing. It sobered him of his laughs.

“I don’t know what this is all about, and I know we’re not important-” Sarah pleaded.

“Who said you’re not important?” The Doctor asked. “I’ve travelled to all sorts of places, done things you couldn’t even imagine, but you two.”

He stared at them for a moment. He looked just in awe at their existence, at their simple yet perfect romance.

“Street corner, two in the morning, getting a taxi home. I’ve never had a life like that.” The Doctor replied. “Yes. I’ll try and save you.”

  


==CON==

 

When that was done, I sat in some of the pews at the head of the church. My eyes were staring at where the preacher would stand, not sure if in anger or just zoned out staring.

The TARDIS needed to be brought back. How could I do that? Was it just a timing thing? Did the TARDIS have to work her way through the paradox, like climbing out of a hole? Or was the key an anchor helping her to our timeline? It was a bit complicated. Luckily, I had my freezer hoodie on.

The idea came when I was eight, if you can believe that. I was watching _Phineas and Ferb_ , and they had that S’Winter episode. I wondered if you could do the same with clothes. Clothes to keep you cold, with just a flip of a switch the make it warm.

Jackie came up next to me. It yanked me out of my thoughts. She handed me Baby Rose’s carrier. The too young Mickey was at her side, which is who I was actually focused on when she talked. “Look, can you watch her for me? Thanks.” She walked away with Mickey, probably to give him comfort. He _had_ just watched his gran be wiped out of existence.

“Wait, no.” I tried to argue, before I took a good look at Rose. Oh, she was adorable as a baby. “Aww. Can’t stay mad at a baby.”

The baby blinked her baby blue eyes at me. I chuckled. “Oh, sunshine. You’re not gonna talk smack about my dad, are you?”

She just blinked at me.

“That’s what I thought.” I cooed. “You’re so smart at this age.”

The Doctor walked over, apparently satisfied with all the other exits. He eyed me oddly when he saw Baby Rose. “Where did you get that?”

I shrugged. “Jackie asked me to babysit.” I answered. “Figures. I’m the Universe’s Greatest Babysitter.” With that, I kept gently rocked her carrier. She was just a little bit fussy, typical of her too.

The Doctor sat beside me, looking down at Rose’s face. “Now, Rose you’re not going to bring about the end of the world, are you? Are you?”

I rocked the baby, who was in the beginning phases of a full on meltdown. A snort came out instead of shushes, realizing that Magoo had made her start crying.

He must’ve heard that thought. “Can you quiet her?” The Doctor ordered, annoyed with both versions of the blonde now.

Oh, now I knew I had to shove it in his face.

“Watch the magic.” I pulled the bawling Baby Rose up. She’d just gone through a traumatic experience. Not to often a Northern man with big ears scares you.

I pulled a song out from my head, from one of the CD’s the TARDIS gave me.

_“Ever since we took that midnight drive down to see the water in the full moon sky, and I told you I loved you on the blue creek road. Well I was full on fallin’ for my Carolina Rose.”_

I thought about Rose and the Doctor’s story began. How she ran off with him one night, and he took her to the end of the world. The creaking body of Cassandra. The look in his eyes where it showed he had fallen in love with her. I thought about Rose was helping to put the Doctor back together, after he fell so hard during the War.

 _“Spent the next few years just singing my song with Rose in the front row singing along, til I got that call, had to hit that road. Man, how am I gonna leave my Carolina Rose?”_ The Doctor’s Song. It would end one day, and go on without Rose. For now, at the start to this song, she was there. She was the first step for everything. _“Yeah the big time is everything I ever wanted, but the spotlight can’t hold a candle to you. Standing up here on this stage, they all say ‘man, you got it made’. They don’t know, it don’t mean a thing without my Carolina Rose.”_

When he loses her, the Doctor won’t know what to do. There was no point in adventures if the woman he loved so much wasn’t there. The Doctor loved the Running, with every part of him, but it was better with the Pink and Yellow human. From The Satan Pit, it was shown that the Doctor might consider giving up The Running if it meant being with Rose.

Baby Rose was starting to close her eyes. She was so easy to put down, surprisingly.

 _“Met a California girl on a west coast run. She sparkled like a diamond in the setting sun. They called me crazy when I let her go, I just couldn’t stop thinking about my Carolina Rose.”_ Then he met Donna. Donna taught him it was okay, that Rose wasn’t really gone. She was…kinda misplaced. He could always keep her in his memory, he could keep on running. Plus, later, he would take her to a planet made of Diamonds. _“Yeah the big time is everything I ever wanted, but the spotlight can’t hold a candle to you. Standing up here on this stage, they all say ‘man, you got it made’. They don’t know, it don’t mean a thing without my Carolina Rose.”_

I rocked Baby Rose back and forth. She was asleep now, but I kept going because I knew from experience you had to make sure the kid was a brick before putting them down. _“I’ve been halfway around the world, just to come back to you. I hope I ain’t too late and I hope that you’re still thinking about me too._ _So now I’m back here standing on your front porch. It’s been five years baby, but it feels like more. Well let me drive you down that blue creek road, I got something to say to my Carolina Rose.”_

In Journey’s End, he chased her so hard. The Doctor fought so hard to get back Rose, and nearly regenerated just so he could hold her again. He knew he missed her, but seeing her back, it told him she missed him too. It was like he had two lifetimes after she was gone. Martha’s Doctor, and Donna’s Doctor. Two different men, with the same face, and all in such a short time. The Doctor could finally be Rose’s Doctor again. Yet at the end of it all, he took her to Bad Wolf Bay. His twin told Rose he loved her. He’ll always love her, I can tell.

I sang the chorus again, still rocking Baby Rose. She had to be safe to put down by now, based on her steady breathing. I wasn’t gonna risk her just waking up out of nowhere.

With my song done, I lowered Baby Rose in her carrier. She was asleep, yeah, but there was always a chance she would wake up while being put down. If you’ve ever babysat, then you know that’s the worst.

Looking up, I saw the Doctor and Rose gaping at me. “Umm...guys? What’s...what’s with the staring?”

“That song.” Rose breathed, pointing slowly at her younger self. “That song you were singing. Where did you hear that?”

I shrugged. “The TARDIS gave me some CD’s. I just, picked a song.”

“It was beautiful.” The Doctor admitted. Despite it all, I felt embarrassed when he said that.

“Told you it was magic.” I explained, nervously. I looked down at my feet, realizing that must be why everyone in the church was gaping at me. “Never met a baby I couldn’t put to bed.”

“That song...I’ve heard it before.” Rose pondered.

“Course ya did, I just sang it to Baby You.” I explained, condescendingly.

“Right. Time travel.” Rose joked, laughing mirthlessly. “I’d better be careful. I think I just imprinted myself on Mickey like a mother chicken.”

I snorted, keeping quiet because of the baby. Rose snorted too. “Sorry.” I laughed, keeping my voice low so I wouldn’t wake the baby. “All could think about was when you took on the living plastic, and Mickey was hugging your legs the whole time.”

Rose laughed. It came to a stop, when she went over to brush a finger over her toddler self’s cheek.

My hand took hold of her wrist. “ _Don’t touch the baby!_ ” I hissed quietly. Helping my point, the Reapers outside screeched. It was this that reminded me of why I was so pissed at Rose in the first place. “Not only could you wake her up, did you forget that she’s _you_?”

At her confused expression, the Doctor stepped in. I threw Rose’s wrist aside, which tossed her back a couple steps. “You’re both the same person. That’s a paradox, and we don’t want a paradox happening, not with these things outside.” The Time Lord stressed. “Anything new, any disturbance in time makes them stronger. The paradox might let them in.”

Rose’s eyes were full of hurt. “Can’t do anything right, can I?” She asked, voice coated in pain.

“Since you ask, no. So, don’t touch the baby.” The Time Lord commanded.

I checked to make sure the baby was still sleeping. No way he was waking her up.

“I’m not stupid.”

“You could have fooled me.”

I rolled my eyes, looking to the sleeping child. _‘Please be careful when picking out your boyfriends. This one bites.’_

“All right, I’m sorry.” The Doctor “I wasn’t really going to leave you on your own.”

Rose sniffled. “I know.”

“But between you and me, I haven’t got a plan.” The Doctor admitted. “No idea. No way out.”

“I’m no better.” I sighed. “My mind’s a blank slate.”

Rose shook her head. “The two of you’ll think of something.” She encouraged.

“The entire Earth’s been sterilized. This, and other place like it, are all that’s left of the human race. We might hold out for a while, but nothing can stop those creatures.” My friend reported. “They’ll get through in the end. The walls aren’t that old. And there’s nothing we can do to stop them.”

“We’re sitting ducks in the middle of a hurricane.” I added.

“There used to be laws stopping this kind of thing from happening.” He turned a bit towards me, but not in my eyes. “Our people would have stopped this. But they’re all gone. And now you’re going the same way.”

The hurt in his voice was what got me. My hand reached to his wrist, holding it like he held mine in Pete’s apartment. He sent back a thankful thought.

There was a long pause before Rose spoke. I glanced up at her, and she was staring at where I was holding the Doctor’s wrist.

“If I’d realized.” Rose cried.

The Doctor stared at her with his intense blue eyes. “Just tell me you’re sorry.”

“I am. I’m sorry.” Rose apologized. “What I said about your family, Terra, that wasn’t right.”

“You’re damn right it wasn’t.” I snapped, voice immediately cold. My hand yanked away from Magoo. “It’s gonna take more than just one stupid apology to make it right, Tyler.”

Her eyes were starting to shine. “Then tell me what to do. Please. You’re my friend. I can’t _stand_ you being mad at me.”

“Mad?” I scoffed. “I’m in a _panic._ My homebox was in the TARDIS. Right now, my box doesn’t exist.”

Rose sniffled. “That...that black box?”

“What you said, about not having a dad.” I sucked in a pained breath. Telling the would be the only way past it, to show them why I needed that box so much. “It made me think, that I should be looking harder for mine.”

Rose let out a soft gasp.

The Doctor turned to me. “You _do_ have one? You remembered him?”

“He...wasn’t from Gallifrey...I called him _Pops_ .” I stated, feeling as if I was sharing a secret of the universe. “He...he always encouraged me...I never felt stupid or...like he was humoring me. Nothing I said was too stupid or childish for him. He...he taught me how to make crop circles once. We got in _so_ much trouble for that.”

 _‘Nani nearly took the keys to the ship for that one.’_ I smiled.

Rose looked ready to cry. “Oh god, Terra, I’m so sorry. I had no idea.”

“He was who you built the homebox for.”

I nodded, thinking back. “It was for his spaceship.”

_‘Months of being a bed and not breakfast made it get rusty. I was fixing it up when I was thirteen/thirty-four.’_

“It was old, and needed to be fixed. I was gonna surprise him with it.” I smiled fondly.

_‘I had called over a few dozen experiments to help with it, to surprise Pops on his birthday. One kept setting everything on fire. Hero kept trying to paint it all black. Lilo and Stitch were helping the others keep Pops distracted while I worked.’_

“The homebox was damaged, so I fixed it for his birthday.”

_‘Pops was chasing an experiment around Kaui’i. I noticed the odd box, so I got to re-installing it. The software had been damaged, and it was in the wrong side of the ship._

_That night, at his party, I showed him the repaired ship. He noticed the homebox, engraved with our names in the language of his home planet. He hugged me, and it was the best hug I’ve ever gotten.’_

When I exhaled, it was of relief. Pops was so happy that night. The maiden voyage of the repaired ship was making crop circles. Pops kept saying how proud of me he was.

I loved my Dad back Home, but I never felt the love that I had with Pops. He brought me into his home, without me asking. He treated me as a daughter, blood or not. Dad, I always knew I wasn’t held to the standard he had for me.

When I had a bad day at school, Pops showed me how to ride an anti-gravity scooter. When I had a bad day at Home, Dad went to a meeting with Mom. There were billions of other things I could say, _but I still missed Pops_. Why did I have to ruin everything and die?

“That box was the first thing of his I held in over a century.” I sighed, chest feeling lighter. “I’ve been too scared to use it. He wouldn’t...he wouldn’t like who he was looking at now.”

The things I did, in any face, would be enough to make Pops forget I had been his child. I was a monster. I was the Fallen Star, not Terra and definitely not Mahina Jookiba.

“I think he would be proud.” The Doctor assured. I looked up, a bit happier from the honesty in his blue eyes. “I know I am.”

I smiled, thankful but doubtful. “Yeah. I mean, I’ve been keeping you two idiots alive the past few months. That’s gotta be worth something.”

In a moment of pure emotion, Rose hugged me. I squeaked. “ _Okay!_ Okay! I forgive you. Will you stop hugging me?”

“Not a chance.” Rose muttered into my hoodie with a watery voice.

The three of us laughed. The Doctor joined in on the hug. More than that, I found her nickname. _‘Carolina Rose.’_

Rose let out a small yelp of pain.

“It wasn’t me.” I immediately said, holding up my hands.

“It was him.” Rose looked to the Doctor. “Have you got something hot?” She pulled open his jacket, digging for his key.

She quickly tossed it behind us. It was glowing brightly, burning the carpet it landed on.

“It’s the TARDIS key!” The Doctor beamed. He pulled off his jacket. I was stunned to see him without it, but it was gone as fast as it came.

“What does it mean when it glows?” I asked, kneeling beside him.

“It’s telling me it’s still connected to the TARDIS.” He explained happily.

 

==CON==

 

The Doctor stood up on the priest’s podium. I stood behind him, looking over at Rose.

“The inside of my ship was thrown out of the wound but we can use this to bring it back.” He explained. “And once I’ve got my ship back, then I can mend everything. Now, I just need a bit of power. Has anybody got a battery?”

I immediately pulled out my hoodie’s remote.

“This one big enough?” Stuart offered, holding up his dad’s phone.

“Or mine?” I added, already working to pull off the back. I’d be warm for a few minutes, but anything to help Pops.

The Doctor climbed down the podium. I shrugged, following after. “Fantastic. I’ll need both.” He pulled out his sonic.

“Good old dad.” Stuart cheered. He handed the Doctor the phone battery. “There you go.”

The Doctor turned to me. I dropped the battery in his hand. He pressed both batteries to his key, using his other hand to use the sonic.

“Just need to do a bit of charging up and then we can bring everyone back.” He explained. As he talked, the Reapers screeched louder outside.

Though, when I stood by him to help, he went a different direction.

 _‘A couple months ago, you said you saw Logan do something horrible. That it kept you quiet for an entire month.’_ The Doctor began, not looking away from the key. ‘ _But then you said you couldn’t remember the Johnsons. So, what did he_ really _do?’_

I looked down at my hoodie. “ _Stay alive! Don’t break any laws. Most importantly, do not do anything I would do!”_ It felt like I was letting him down, making his death meaningless. What choice do I have right now?

 _‘What you asked me this morning, in the TARDIS.’_ Magoo spoke, voice softer. _‘You wanted to know about what happens to you, if the people you see after you regenerate get hurt.’_

My hearts ached at this. “ _Because I want  to make_ you _scared. I want it so that the next time you hear my voice, or see my face, your body freezes in fear.”_

Is that what’ll happen to me, because of what I did to Eleven and Oswin?

The Doctor glanced at me for a second, before getting back to the key. _‘I’m not going to push. I know a thing or two about bad days.’_ The words did make me feel better, though only just. _‘What happened when you regenerated?’_

I took a shaky breath. _‘They died saving my life, or this body anyway. I didn’t see Logan kill them, exactly, but when I was running away he made the intention clear. Two...two of them actually made it with me out, but I stupidly sent them back when I asked about the third. I knew she was already dead but I made them go back. I sent them back to die. They all died because of me.’_

Even though I hadn’t said a word, I was struggling to contain my emotions. The Doctor put a comforting hand on my shoulder. I took a shaky breath.

 _‘He probably killed the Johnsons in front me anyway._ ’ I projected. My diary had said our first self found them dead. _‘I wouldn’t remember it.’_

“I’m sure whoever they were, they’d be proud of you too.” The Doctor spoke out loud.

That actually made me feel better.

“So. How long until we are out of this mess?” I changed the subject.

“Not long, hopefully, if this works.” The Doctor explained.

He stuck the key into the thin air. Only it wasn’t air, it was the key slot.

“Oh Merciful Storyline she’s back!” I hollered, throwing my hands up in joy.

To agree, Idris was making the _whoosh whoosh_ noise.

The Doctor swung his jacket back on. “Right, no one touches that key. Have you got that? Don’t touch it. Anyone touches that key, it’ll be, well, _zap_. Just leave it be and everything will be fine. We’ll get out of here. All of us.”

I spun around. “Mister and Missus Hoskins, get ready cause you’re having a wedding today!”

 

==CON==

 

Seeing the TARDIS slowly phasing in here was the best feeling in the world. I was beaming in my seat, not even bothered that my hoodie was warmer now.

The three of us were sitting in the back. I was sitting the aisle chair, my foot hopping in place. Rose was beside me, dejected. It was a bit of a mood killer to have Jackie giving us death stares.

“When time gets sorted out-” Rose began.

“Everybody here forgets what happened.” The Doctor assured. “And don’t worry, the thing that you changed will stay changed.”

“You mean I’ll still be alive, though I’m meant to be dead.” Pete stated.

The Doctor and I couldn’t look him in the eyes.

“That’s why I haven’t done anything with my life, why I didn’t mean anything.” Pete prattled on.

“It doesn’t work like that.” The Doctor argued.

Pete shook his head. “Rubbish.”

“You had Rose.” I argued, turning to look him in the eyes. “That means something to me.”

My words did seem to encourage Pete. He smiled at Rose, the kind of smile only a proud father could give. “Yeah. She means something to me too.” He gave his daughter a meaningful look. “I’m still useless. I couldn’t even _die_ properly. Now it’s my fault all of this has happened.”

Rose wouldn’t let him think like that. She whirled around to face him. “This is _my_ fault.”

“No, love. I’m your dad.” Pete argued. “It’s my job for it to be my fault.”

“Her dad?”

 _‘Oh Story. Magoo we’re fucked.’_ I thought.

 _‘Seems to happen a lot with Jackie around, Sailor.’_ The Doctor teased. It changed to a grumble. _‘Bloody domestics.’_

 _‘Oh._ Now _who’s using language.’_

I threw him a cheeky grin. He grinned  back before walking away.

“How are you her dad? How old were you, twelve?” Jackie grimaced. “Oh, that’s disgusting.”

“Jacks, listen. This is _Rose_.” Pete emphasized.

“ _Rose_?” Jackie gasped. She glared at her future daughter. “How sick is that?”

 _“Rose, remember not to touch the baby.”_ I whispered. I stood up, slipping past Jackie to stand behind her. I looked to Rose, giving her a reassuring thumbs-up.

“You give my daughter a second hand name?” Jackie whined. “How many are there? Do you call them all Rose?”

“Oh, for God’s sake, _look_!” Pete sighed in annoyance. “It’s the same Rose!”

He took up Baby Rose, preparing to hand her off.

“Pete stop!” I warned. I slid around Jackie, about to rip the baby from the companion.

Rose tried, bless her. She shrunk away from Pete, only to have him still give her the baby.

“Rose! No!” The Doctor shouted.

It was too late. I pulled the baby away, handing her back to Jackie. A loud screech came from the front of the church. Turning, I saw a Reaper floating over head.

The Doctor stepped in front of me, stretching his arms out. “Everyone, behind me! I’m the oldest thing in here.” He commanded.

The Reaper knew this. It stared at the Doctor with dark red eyes. The humans ran behind the Doctor, with me right behind him.

 _‘Doctor. It’s going to kill you.’_ I said, not looking away from the Reaper.

 _‘It’s going to kill all of us.’_ The Doctor admitted. _‘I’ll be buying you and Rose time.’_

He closed off his mind, probably to ease any pain from his death. He walked closer to the Reaper, determination in his steps. All I could see now was purple Eleven; running away with Oswin to protect me, trying to get me out of the warehouse sooner, warning me about the dangers of time travel before leaving me alone.

My hearts were racing in fear. This wasn’t happening to me again. He can’t kill himself to save me again. I ran up to him, not willing to let him die. _Not again! No!_

“Doctor, Terra!” Rose wailed.

The Reaper took us both.

 

==CON==

 

When I landed, there wasn’t any Reaper or screaming or shouting. The Doctor was at my side, looking confused as to why he was still alive.

 _‘You jumped in front of me?’_ The Doctor asked.

It took me a second to respond. It felt like waking up from a long nap. _‘You’re my friend. Of course I did.’_

Magoo sent me a shocked look. _‘Don’t do it again.’_

 _‘I’m not just going to leave you to die!’_ I argued. Even in my head, my voice was filled with pain.

 _‘Terra, I already killed you once.’_ The Doctor stressed. Memories of Van Statten’s museum came into my head from his. _‘You told me  in Space a Station Five not to make you the last. That goes both ways, you got that? I can’t lose them a second time.’_

I sighed. _‘Rose needs us. If we’re back, then Pete’s...’_

The Doctor nodded.

We walked out of the church, seeing Rose standing there. She was the picture of heartbroken. The Time Lord put his hand on her shoulder.

She turned to us, tears on her cheeks. Her eyes widened at seeing us alive.

“Go to him.” The Doctor assured her. “Quick.”

“We got your back.” I encouraged.

With a shaky sob, Rose ran over to her father’s side.

I felt something on my hand. Looking down, I saw Magoo squeezing it tight. I squeezed back in reassurance.

 _‘I can’t make any promises._ ’ I thought. _‘You’re my friend, Magoo, and I defend my friends to my dying breath. That’s why what happened when I died hurt so much. Friends died on my watch. You can’t lose me a second time? I can’t lose_ my family _a second time.’_

 

 

 


	13. The Empty Child

The TARDIS made a hard jerk to the side.

I was barely managed to grab hold to the console before we veered again. The Doctor was furiously trying to keep us balanced, while also on course behind the Chula ambulance.

I had been excited the past week, since I looked inside Pops’ homebox. It felt like I could actually smile without it being forced. I had been scared for decades that Pops had just let me go, that he didn’t search the globe (or even the island) for me. To see prove that he did, that my father had looked before crashing in Russia, lifted my spirits.

Now there was just the issues of where he was now, and what to tell Darcy.

“What’s the emergency?” Rose asked, keeping a tight hold of the console.

“It’s mauve.” The Doctor stated. He continued flipping switches, trying to keep us behind the ambulance.

Rose turned to me. “Mauve?”

“The universally recognized color for danger.” I supplied. The TARDIS jerked to the side again. “He gave a whole speech about it last week.”

Her face scrunched up in confusion. “What happened to red?” She asked our friend

The Doctor “That’s just humans. By everyone else’s standards, red’s camp. Oh, the misunderstandings. All those red alerts, all that dancing. It’s got a very basic flight computer. I’ve hacked in, slaved the TARDIS. Where it goes, we go.”

I gave him a deadpan stare. “And that’s safe, right?”

“Totally.”

**_*BANG*_ **

“Could you repeat that?!” I hissed.

The Doctor grimaced. “Okay,  _ reasonably _ . Should have said  _ reasonably _ there. No, no, no, no! It’s jumping time tracks, getting away from us.”

“What exactly is this thing?” I asked tiredly.

“No idea.” Was his reply.

Rose and I were on the same page. “Then why are we chasing it?” She snapped.

“It’s mauve and dangerous, and about thirty seconds from the centre of London.” He supplied.

That shut Rose and I up.

 

==CON==

 

The Doctor landed the TARDIS, albeit still as bumpy as he flew it. Rose stumbled out first, me just behind.

“Do you know how long you can knock around space without happening to bump into Earth?” The Doctor asked as he stepped off the TARDIS.

“On average five days.” I answered dutifully.

“Or is that just when we’re out of milk?” Rose joked.

The Doctor snorted. “Of all the species in all the Universe and it has to come out of a cow.”

“My head’s still spinning from the landing.” I admitted, pressing my palm against my forehead. “The Time Sense hasn’t kicked in yet.”

“Does that sometimes. The TARDIS was tracking that thing, whatever it was. Might’ve messed with your head a bit. It’ll work in a few minutes.” Magoo explained, scanning the alleyway for the ambulance. “Must have come down somewhere quite close. Within a mile, anyway. And it can’t have been more than a few weeks ago. Maybe a month.”

“A  _ month _ ? We were right behind it.” She turned to me with a  _ ‘did he really do this to us again?’ _ face.

“It was jumping time tracks all over the place. We’re bound to be a little bit out.” The Doctor excused. “Do you want to drive?”

“You should teach Terra to drive her.” Rose spoke instead. I bristled at going off script, especially for something about me. “She’d probably fly it blindfolded and not crash.”

“Your hope makes feel better.” I gave Magoo a flat look. “Magoo teaching me to drive? I fear for the safety of everyone.” Rose snickered. 

The Doctor rolled his eyes. “I could teach you to drive her, if you wanted.” He offered.

It was a kind offer, but I snorted. “ _ No way _ ! Last week, you promised to take us to this cafe you loved, quote unquote,  _ before blew it up _ . Carolina, when did he land us?”

“ _ As  _ the cafe blew up.” She answered, giving a cheeky smile.

“Thank ya kindly.” I smiled widely at the Doctor. “Give me the instruction manual, and I bet I could work it out.”

The Doctor shook his head. “Can’t. It’s in Gallifreyan.”

I sighed. Another fun fact we learned was that, in addition to my memories being blocked, I couldn’t understand Gallifreyan. The Doctor had assured that a few Time Lord styled lessons would have me back on track with it, but it apparently took a lot of setup. He kept forgetting to do it, and by the time he remembered we were running for our lives.

“Earlier, you said we we're little bit out.” I supplied. “How much is a little?”

“A bit.”

“Is that exactly a bit?”

“Ish.”

“I feel so informed.” I deadpanned.

Rose snickered. “What’s the plan, then? Are either of ya going to do a scan for alien tech or something?”

“Rose, it hit the middle of London with a very loud bang. I’m going to ask.” Our friend took out the little leather pouch, for the psychic paper.

“Doctor John Smith, Ministry of Asteroids.” Rose read off.

“It’s psychic paper.” The Time Lord reported “It tells you-”

“Whatever you want it to tell me, I remember.” She sighed, handing it back.

The Doctor winced. “Sorry.” He apologized, taking the psychic paper back into his pocket.

“Not very Spock, is it, just asking.” Rose asked.

“Door, music, people.” He looked to me. “What do you think?”

“I think it’s a loud party.” I supplied dutifully.

“I think you should do a scan for alien tech. Give me some Spock, for once.” Rose asked. “Would it kill you?”

“I think it will, yeah.” I joked.

Rose looked at me. “And you? Can’t you use an over your  _ 179 years _ of space...time travel to track it?”

“Don’t know if I can.” I admitted, leaning in close to whisper. “Not in the mood to deal with his pouting.”

“Well, yeah. He’s like a little kid.” Rose stated.

“Not  _ like _ , his  _ is _ a little kid.”

The Doctor looked over at us, jaw dropped. “When the two of you want to stop chatting and help, be my guest.”

I stood slanted, putting my hands in my hoodie. “I’ve performed a lot of manhunts over the decades.” I said, just to antagonize. The Doctor rolled his eyes, grinning.

“You had manhunts?” Rose asked, grinning.

“In law enforcement, we sometimes have to chase down suspects.” I shrugged. “Especially in the FBI’s Behavioral Analysis Unit. They  _ always _ ran, you know?”

“FBI? You must’ve been good.” Rose teased, eyeing the Doctor. “No wonder she’s the attack dog.”

“Bark bark.” I grinned cheekily.

“What’s that Behavior Analysis Unit thingy do, again?” Rose asked.

“Make profiles for criminals, based on evidence left behind at crime scenes. It included the geometrical landscape, mentality of the unsub (unknown subject), and the victim type. My team and I’d use the profile to search for them, which usually ended up in a hostage negotiation.” I reported. It felt nice to talk about my other jobs with people who didn’t think I was too young for it. “My team and I were the best at it. I was young, twenty-three, so a lot of the training stuck.”

“Sounds dangerous.” My friend commented in a worried voice.

“Oh it was. First year, I had almost three guns held to my head. One time I nearly blew up!” I reported fondly. “Good times, good times.”

Rose snorted at me, shaking her head. She’d been less tense since we saw her dad, since she saw what mine did. 

The Doctor came over. “Twenty-three? That’s young even for a Time Tot.”

He made it too easy. “900 and still can’t drive? That’s old even for a Time Lord.” Rose laughed. She held up her hand for a high-five. “Thank ya. I’m really proud of that one.” I high-fived her.

The Doctor managed to pop open a nearby door. “Are you sure about that t-shirt?”

“I’ll take Subject Changes, for 600 Alex.” I deadpanned.

Rose laughed before answering the Doctor. “Too early to say. I’m taking it out for a spin.” She teased.

“ _ Mummy? Mummy?” _

Story time.

I binged all the  _ New Who _ episodes, it took around three days. The episodes aired on BBC, so I watched them on TV for fun. One afternoon, I was watching the  _ Empty Child _ with one of my brothers. The two of us were having fun, until we heard the  _ Mummy _ call...from behind us.

There was some screaming on my part. Turning to see what made the noise, neither and I spotted our four year old standing there with a shit eating grin.

Now that he knows, my baby brother just shouts ‘ _ Are you my mummy?’ _ at the worst times to get a reaction out of me. It works, every time. Including this one.

“Come on if you’re coming. It won’t take a minute.” Our friend offered, not looking back before walking in.

I followed him.  _ ‘Carolina, have fun with Jack! I’m staying AWAY from Jamie for now. It’s giving me chills, which I only want from my freezer hoodie!’ _

I fell behind a bit, taking calming breaths so I wouldn’t look so freaked out by Jamie. The song floated into the hallway, so that was nice.

_ “Alouette, gentille alouette. Alouette, je te plumerai.” _ I hummed, resting my head against the stone wall. With another breath, the female singer’s song was cut off.

_ “Excuse me. Excuse me. Could I have everybody’s attention just for a mo?” _

To my luck, this was a bar. Magoo was already on stage, so I walked over to stand by the  _ Hitler Will Send No Warning _ sign.

“Be very quick.” The Doctor assured. He smiled widely to the crowd. “Hello! Might seem like a stupid question, but has anything fallen from the sky recently?”

They all laughed. I pinched the bridge of my nose. 

“Sorry, have I said something funny?” They laughed harder. He looked around at them confused. “It’s just, there’s this thing that I need to find. Would’ve fallen from the sky a couple of days ago.”

That was when the air raid sirens went off. The small crowd gathered up their belongings, making their exits.

The Doctor looked over to me. “Would’ve landed quite near here. With a very loud-” His eyes widened.

I turned behind me, pretending to notice the sign for the first time.

“Bang.” The Doctor let the sentence fade off.

_ ‘The laughter is making sense now.’ _ I thought.

 

==CON==

 

Once the room cleared, the Doctor and I went back to the alleyway. He was worried for his companion, running into the alleyway. 

“Rose?” He called out.

I followed behind, pausing just a few steps behind. “She’s gone, Magoo.” I stated, in an annoyed voice. It wasn’t exactly fun to find out you were in the middle of an air raid.

His shoulders slumped, and his paced slowed. 

“You know, one day, just one day, maybe, I’m going to meet someone who gets the whole don’t wander off thing.” The Doctor spoke to the cat. Maybe to me, but he was still letting the cat. “Nine hundred years of phone box travel, it’s the only thing left to surprise me.”

“None taken.” I commented dryly.

“You’re a Time Lady, you know better.” The Doctor responded without looking back.

I beamed. It didn’t last long, because that was when the TARDIS phone rang. “It rings?” I found myself asking.

The Doctor marched over, opening the small panel on her door. “How can you be ringing? What’s that about, ringing? What am I supposed to do with a ringing phone?”

“Pick it up, maybe? It could be Carolina.” I supplied.

He pulled out the sonic, but seemed to be taking my suggestion into account. “No. The TARDIS phone is inside. This one is just part of her disguise.”

“Don’t answer it.” A female voice warned from further down the alley. “It’s not for you.”

“Oh, I’m sorry, then who is it for?” I remarked sarcastically.

Nancy just stared at the phone, clutching to her bag tightly. “It’s not important. Just leave it.”

“And how do you know that?” The Doctor asked. 

Nancy huffed. “‘Cos I do. And I’m telling you, don’t answer it.”

“Well, if you know so much, tell me this. How can it be ringing? It’s not even a real phone.” He turned his back to her. I rolled my eyes, looking away so Nancy could vanish. “It’s not connected, it’s not-”

I nodded my head, lips a thin line.  _ ‘Yeah. She’s not coming back.’ _

Magoo just shook his head.  _ ‘Humans. I’ll never understand them.’ _ He answered the phone. “Hello? Hello?” Grout on a stupid grin. “This is the Doctor speaking, and my friend, Terra. How may I help you?” The Doctor’s face became serious. “Who is this? Who’s speaking?”

I gulped, my hands slipping into my pockets.  _ Not a boy alive who wouldn’t tear The universe apart to save his mummy. _

“Who is this?” The Doctor pressed. “How did you ring here? This isn’t a real phone. It’s not wired up to anything.”

He hung up a second later. I shivered. Magoo’s serious face wasn’t helping my nerves.

I knocked on the TARDIS door. “Carolina, get your Union Jack wearing self out here! We’ve got a mystery and it definitely involved other aliens!”

Nothing.

Just a crashing noise off in the distance.

The Doctor and I immediately went after it.

The crashing noise turned out to be the Lloyd family packing away into their shelter.

I lifted myself up on a trash can to see over the bricks. Magoo was right beside me.

“Come on, hurry up, get in there. Come on.” The plump mother shoved her son inside the bunker. She turned back to the house. “ _ Arthur _ ! Arthur, Will you hurry up? Didn’t you hear the siren?”

Her just as a plump husband waddled out. “Middle of dinner, every night. Blooming Germans.” He looked up to the sky. “Don’t you eat?”

“I can hear the planes!”

“Don’t you eat?”

“Oh, keep your voice down, will you? It’s an air raid! Get in. Look, there’s a war on.”

“I know there’s a war on. Don’t push me.”

I snorted.  _ ‘Magoo. Look. Domestics.’ _

The Doctor grinned.

 

==CON==

 

The Doctor managed to sneak us in after Nancy. She should really be locking these doors with deadlocks. 

“ _ One slice each _ !” The woman ordered. “And I want to see everybody chewing.”

I held back a snort, reminded of the dozens of Thanksgiving and Christmas meals I’ve heard that sentence. While the kids made their plates, and Nancy made her’s, there was no one noticing Doctor and I take seats at the other end.

“Thank you, miss.” 

“Thanks, miss.”

“Thank you miss.”

“Thanks, miss!” My friend cheered when he took the plate. He took off two slices, passing it to me.

The children gasped, throwing their silverware back on their plates. They leapt out if their chairs, nearly stumbling over each other trying to get out.

“Thank ya kindly, miss!” I added, taking a slice before moving it towards the girl on my left. She had vanished though, so I just put it down over her plate. “Was it something I said?” I asked sarcastically. 

Nancy was the only one calm. “It’s alright. Everybody stay where you are!”

The Doctor was beaming. “Good here, innit? Who’s got the salt?”

“I do!” I spoke, handing him the little shaker. I added some pepper to my plate, and a bit of the greens. What? I didn’t want Nancy taking my plate!

“Back in your seats. They shouldn’t be here either.” Nancy advised the children, getting back to her own food.  _ Mm, the turkey was good. _

“So, you lot, what’s the story?” The Doctor asked while putting more food on his plate.

“What do you mean?” The boy, Ernie, mumbled.

“You’re homeless, right?” The Doctor asked. I would’ve been helping, but I had been advised by too many motherly types not to talk with my mouth full. “Living rough?”

“Why do you want to know that? Are you a copper?” Another boy asked.

The Doctor snickered. I snorted, nearly choking on the turkey bites in my mouth. “Of course I’m not a copper. What’s a copper going to do with you lot anyway? Arrest you for starving?” The Doctor asked.

The kids laughed, digging into their meals.

“What he’s saying is you kids are supposed to be in the country right now.” I stated. I cut off a piece of turkey. “So what’s the story there?”

“I was evacuated. Sent me to a farm.” Alf muttered.

“So why’d you come back?”

Alf looked down at his food. “There was a man there.”

I stuffed down the image of beating a random man with a baseball bat.  _ Side Note: Calling Darcy later. She’s got a new case. _

“Yeah, same with Ernie.” Jim explained. “Two homes ago.”

“Shut up. It’s better on the streets anyway.” Ernie stated. “It’s better food.”

“Yeah. Nancy always gets the best food for us.” Jim complimented.

“So, that’s what you do, is it, Nancy?” The Doctor piped in. I went back to eating. 

“What is?” She questioned.

“As soon as the sirens go, you find a big fat family meal still warm on the table with everyone down in the air raid shelter and bingo!” The Doctor grinned. “Feeding frenzy for the homeless kids of London Town. Puddings for all, as long as the bombs don’t get you.”

“Something wrong with that?” She snapped.

“Wrong with it?” The Doctor repeated, shocked. “It’s brilliant. I’m not sure if it’s Marxism in action or a West End musical.”

“Why’d you follow me?” Nancy asked tiredly. “What do you want?”

“A phone that isn’t a phone gets a phone call.” I supplied. “We’re curious, and right now I think you’ve got all the answers.” 

“I did you two a favor.” She insisted haughtily.  I told you not to answer it, that’s all I’m telling you.”

“Great, thanks. And I want to find a blonde in a Union Jack.” The Doctor requested. “I mean a specific one. I didn’t just wake up this morning with a craving.”

“That was yesterday.” I teased.

He gave me a look. The kids laughed at us. Nancy stood up from her seat. “Anybody seen a girl like that?”

She took away his plate.

The Doctor looked up at her in confusion.  “What have I done wrong?”

“You took two slices.” Nancy stated before taking mine. 

“And me?”

“You’ll be leaving with him.” Nancy insisted. “No blondes, no flags. Anything else before you leave?”

“Yeah, there is actually. Thanks for asking.”

“You just had to give him an out, didn’t you?” I asked, my hands picking up the napkin so I could draw the ambulance.

“Something we’ve been looking for. Would’ve fallen from the sky about a month ago, but not a bomb. Not the usual kind, anyway. Wouldn’t have exploded.” The Doctor reported.

I slipped him the drawing, one that looked less messy than his.

“Probably would have just buried itself in the ground somewhere, and it would have looked something like this.” He held up the napkin.  _ ‘Thanks.’ _

_ ‘No trouble.’ _

Nancy stared at the napkin intently, almost angrily. This thing did  _ technically _ kill her son.

“Mummy? Are you in there, mummy?” Jamie called out.

My hearts were going a bit fast, so I tried to shake the fear of this saying. You’d think hearing your brother say it for two months would take the edge off.

The Doctor pulled back the curtain, revealing Jamie. 

“Mummy?” He repeated.

Nancy’s head shot in Jamie’s direction.  “Who was the last one in?”

Ernie pointed at us. “Them.”

“No, they came round the back. Who came in the front?” She asked.

“Me.” Alf admitted.

Nancy looked at him. “Did you close the door?” Alf winced. “Did you close the door?” Nancy pressed.

Nancy jumped into action. She ran to the door. I could hear the locks clicking into place. I glanced to the Doctor, wondering what he thought of the situation. He nodded his head towards her, so I followed after him.

Jamie was standing at the door, with Nancy just a few feet away 

“What’s this, then?” Nancy jumped in surprise. “It’s never easy being the only child left out in the cold, you know.” The Doctor voiced.

“I suppose you’d know.” Nancy chided.

“Yeah we do.” I barked

“It’s not exactly a child.” Nancy argued.

“Mummy?” Jamie repeated. “Mummy? Mummy?”

“Right, everybody out.” Nancy commanded when she marched back into the dining room. “Across the back garden and under the fence. Now! Go! Move!”

The kids listened that time. They left the dining room faster than I could blink. Nancy comforted a small girl as they made their way out.

Jamie was still calling for mummy, so I walked to the door. The Doctor stood by me, staring at Jamie’s silhouette. 

“Please let me in, mummy.” Jamie repeated. His little hand inched though the letterbox. “Please let me in, mummy.”

“Are you alright?” I found myself asking.

“Please let me in.”

My hand had inched just a  _ little _ too close. The object Nancy threw nearly hit my own hand. I turned to her in shock.

“What on Earth was that?” I made sure not to swear in front of kids. “Who were you trying to hit, the boy or me?”

“You mustn’t let him touch you!” Nancy warned.

“What happens if he touches us?” The Doctor countered. 

Nancy looked at us with regretful eyes.  “He’ll make you like him.”

“And what’s he like?” I asked. 

“I’ve got to go.” Nancy tried.

“Nancy, what’s he like?” I repeated, an edge in my voice.

The young woman turned to me. “He’s empty.” She replied with finality.

The phone at the Doctor’s side rang.

“It’s him. He can make phones ring. He can. Just like with that police box you saw.” Nancy added.

The Doctor didn’t care. He lifted up the phone, only to again hear Jamie asking for his mummy. 

Nancy ripped the phone from his hands.

“Mummy? Please let me in, mummy.” Jamie pleaded.

I moved to the door, fighting an urge to open it and throw him at Nancy.

“Mummy, mummy, mummy.” The monkey began to clap.

“You lot stay if you want to.” The young woman decided, storming off after the other kids.

A scarred hand reached in through the letterbox. “Mummy? Let me in please, mummy. Please let me in.” Jamie pleaded in a flat voice.

“She’s not here.” I answered.

There was a pause. “Are you my mummy?”

“No kids from me, last I checked.” I stated. “Just us chickens.”

“Well, these chickens.” The Doctor joked. I didn’t snort, focused on the boy’s hand.

“I’m scared.”

“Why are those other children frightened of you?” The Doctor asked softly.

“Please let me in, mummy. I’m scared of the bombs.” Jamie stated.

“I’m opening the door now.” I stated, my hands unlocking the various bolts and locks.

I pulled the door open only to find Jamie was long gone.

 

==CON==

 

The young Nancy was unpacking her bag when we found her. I smiled mischievously as she slowly realized we were here.

The Doctor had, at first, been tracking her with the screwdriver. I offered my  _ valuable  _ experience chasing people while I was FBI. It had been easy to follow her, coupled with the knowledge she’d end up on the train tracks.

“How’d you follow me here?” Nancy demanded.

“I’m good at following, me.” The Doctor excused. “Got the nose for it.”

Nancy stared at the two of us in confusion. “People can’t usually follow me if I don’t want them to.”

“My nose has special powers.” The Doctor joked, knowing that it was actually  _ me _ that brought us here.

“Yeah? That’s why it’s.” Nancy cut herself off.

I laughed, unable to stop it. 

“What?” My friend asked, innocently.

Nancy shook her head, biting her lip to keep from laughing.  “Nothing.”

The Doctor didn’t buy it. “What?” He turned to glance at me. “I’m used to her laughing at this point.”

“Nothing.” Nancy insisted. “Do your ears have special powers too?”

“What are you trying to say?” My friend asked. 

“What, can’t hear her?” Was my laughter filled response.

Nancy laughed too. She nodded politely at the Doctor. “Goodnight, Mister, Miss.” She turned to walk away with her half unpacked bag. 

“Nancy, there’s something chasing you and the other kids.” The Doctor’s voice boomed.

Just like that, my laughter vanished. My gaze stayed on Nancy, my body language telling her I would catch her if she ran. Her shoulders slumped in defeat.

“The boy that isn’t a boy.” I listed. “He’s been following you for a month right?”

Nancy turned to us.

“The thing we’re looking for, the thing that fell from the sky, that’s when it landed. And you know what we’re talking about, don’t you?” The Doctor asked.

Nancy steeled herself. “There was a bomb. A bomb that wasn’t a bomb.” Pain filled her eyes. She was hiding it well, but I knew what it looked like when you were hiding loss that strong. “Fell the other end of Limehouse Green Station.”

“Take us there.” The Doctor stated simply.

Nancy scoffed. “There’s soldiers guarding it. Barbed wire.” She shook her head. “You’ll never get through.”

“Try us.” I challenged with a straight face. 

“You sure either of you want to know what’s going on in there?” The young woman questioned.

The Doctor nodded. “We really want to know.”

“Then there’s someone you need to talk to first.” Nancy countered.

The Doctor “And who might that be?”

“The Doctor.”

_ ‘...’ _

_ ‘...’ _

 

==CON==

 

_ ‘You have a pair of binoculars in that bag?’ _

_ ‘You pull a pair out of your pocket. Me having a pair in my bag is the problem?’ _

My friend and I were standing with Nancy on a metal stairway near a bomb site. Cold air was seeping into my freezer hoodie, which made it much colder. The Doctor was using fancy space binoculars, while I was using a pair that I fixed up to have heat seeking and night vision settings.

“The bomb’s under that tarpaulin.” Nancy explained into our ears. “They put the fence up over night. See that building? The hospital.”

Hard to miss it, with it being the perfect backdrop to this scare fest. Plus it was where I was going to meet Jack, hard to be in a bad mood about that. 

“What about it?” The Doctor asked.

“That’s where the doctor is.” Nancy state. “You should talk to him.”

“For now, I’m more interested in getting in there.” The Doctor motioned to the bomb site. 

Nancy was insistent. “Talk to the doctor first.”

“You’ve made that point, multiple times, on the walk here.” I deadpanned. I spotted the  _ keep out  _ sign, so I went looking for the gate. “Is there a  _ reason _ we need to see a doctor first?”

“Because then maybe you won’t want to get inside.” Nancy stated.

I heard her boots echoing on the metal stairs.

“Where’re you going?” The Doctor commented.

“There was a lot of food in that house. I’ve got mouths to feed.” Nancy remarked. “Should be safe enough now.”

“Who did you lose?” I stated.

“What?” Nancy asked me. 

“I saw the way you looked after those boys. I’ve seen it before. You lost someone, you even blame yourself for it, so you watch these boys to refill the hole.” My eyes looked to her in understanding. “So I’m really sorry, but who did you lose?”

Nancy stared at me for a long moment. She glanced to the Doctor, who was pocketing his binoculars.

“My little brother. Jamie.” She whimpered. I nodded in understanding. “One night I went out looking for food. Same night that thing fell. I told him not to follow me, I told him it was dangerous, but he just. He just didn’t like being on his own.”

“What happened?” I elbowed him. He looked at me in confusion.

“In the middle of an air raid?” Nancy questioned. “What do you  _ think  _ happened?”

The Doctor lowered his gaze. I stuffed the binoculars back into my bag. My eyes went back to Albion, thinking about all the people changed by just one touch. 

There was a long heavy silence. I thought about my brothers, or at least all the boys I’ve called brother. Some were orphans that stumbled into my house, looking for a place to crash for the night and ended up staying for months. Hero had been one of them, as well as the other male experiments. Pops was our dad, so why shouldn’t I call Hero my brother?

The Doctor snorted suddenly. It brought me out my thoughts of Hero, before they turned darker. “Amazing.”

“What is?” Nancy asked.

“1941.” Magoo replied.

I snorted too, smiling. It  _ was _ an interesting year.

“Right now, not very far from here, the German war machine is rolling up the map of Europe. Country after country, falling like dominoes. Nothing can stop it. Nothing. Until one, tiny, damp little island says no. No. Not here.” The Doctor spoke. He was looking up at the air raid in progress. “A mouse in front of a lion.”

As he talked, I felt a bit more hope in my chest. Nine’s speeches about humanity sounded more like a myth, like about these ancient tales that had you spellbound.

“You’re amazing, the lot of you. Don’t know what you do to Hitler, but you frighten the hell out of me.” The Doctor marveled. “Off you go then do what you’ve got to do. Save the world.”

So we parted ways with Nancy, at least for now.

_ Story dammit. I’m thinking about The Parting of Ways! _

 

==CON==

 

With my guidance, we made it to the gate for the hospital. He soniced the lock open, a minor inconvenience at this point. The Albion Hospital was dark, there was a coldness in the air. It wasn’t a coldness like everyone was dead. It was more that everyone was asleep.

I braved myself. None of this was Jack’s fault. He hadn’t known the nanogenes were in there.  _ You see but you do not observe. _ The ex-Time Agent was just doing what he felt he had to do to get his memories back. He learned his lesson in the end. That was all I needed to know what kind of man he was.

My friend walked into our fifth dark corridor of the night. The moonlight coming in made it easy to see all of the patients in their beds. I walked to the right of the room, noticing all the patients were tucked into bed. The Doctor was once more surprised to find all of them with gas masks.

_ ‘I’m telling you, there is something wrong with Nancy’s story.’ _ I explained.  _ ‘Jamie’s following her. She was near the the TARDIS when the phone rang. She was in that house, he followed her there.’ _

The Doctor mentally shrugged.  _ ‘She said they were siblings. I’m not going to lie and say I’m completely convinced.’ _

_ ‘Orphans, my guess. Mothers wouldn’t let their children wander around in the London Blitz unless they were dead.’ _ I added.  _ ‘So Jamie knows his mother is dead.’ _ The Doctor gave me a curious look.  _ ‘Then why is he looking for her like she’s alive?’ _

My friend was now looking at me in understanding. Though I was hiding how I came across the information, I wasn’t hiding my original theories from when I first watched the episode. It was was a good cover-up. It annoyed Darcy when I talked out loud.

A light suddenly switched on behind us. Snapping my head towards it, my feet moving into fighter stance before I saw Doctor Constantine. The doctor was leaning on his cane, skin pale as his hair. He limped towards us, watching us with wary eyes.

“You’ll find them everywhere.” He stated in a gravely voice. “In every bed, in every ward. Hundreds of them.”

“Yes, we saw. Why are they still wearing gas masks?” The Doctor questioned.

“They’re not. Who are you, and who is your friend?” Constantine went on. 

“I’m, er.” My friend fumbled. “Are you the doctor?”

“Doctor Constantine.” He corrected. “And you two are?”

“Nancy sent us.” I explained, in my professional voice.

The doctor paused, intrigued. He must have thought we were with the military, or at least Magoo here. “Nancy?” Constantine noted. He limped with his cane towards the desk in the middle of the room. “That means the two of you must’ve been asking about the bomb.”

“Yes.” The Doctor answered curtly.

Constantine paused before talking again. “What do you know about it?”

“Nothing. Why we were asking.” The Doctor replied. “What do you know?”

Constantine turned back to face us. “Only what it’s done.” He explained tiredly. He looked around at the bodies filling the room.

The Doctor scanned the beds again. I let my hands fall to my sides. “How many were caught in the blast?” I asked, dryly.

Constantine sighed. “None of them were.” His sigh turned into sickly coughs. The Doctor and I stepped closer, as Constantine collapsed into his chair. 

“Sorry to say this sunshine, you’re sick.” I stated, concerned.

“Dying, I should think. I just haven’t been able to find the time.” The man joked. I gave him a smirk in response. He looked to Magoo behind me. “Are you a doctor?”

I snorted, quietly. My friend threw me a look and a grin. “I have my moments.” He supplied. 

“Have you examined any of them yet?” The war doctor questioned.

“No.” My friend admitted.

_ ‘Moment gone.’ _ I teased.

“Don’t touch the flesh.” Constantine warned.

“Which one?” The Doctor asked.

Constantine gave a small knowing smile.  “ _ Anyone _ .”

The Doctor walked over to the closest patient. I crossed my arms over my chest, watching curiously. He scanned the patient. 

“Conclusions?” The doctor asked dryly.

“Massive head trauma, mostly to the left side.” The Doctor listed. “Partial collapse of the chest cavity, mostly to the right. There’s some scarring on the back of the hand and the gas mask seems to be fused to the flesh, but I can’t see any burns.”

“Examine another one.”

The Doctor did so without question.

Barely a moment passed before he was looking at Constantine with shock.

“This isn’t possible.” He argued.

“Examine another.” Constantine instructed.

I looked curiously between the Doctor and the doctor. The Time scanned another patient. “This isn’t possible.”

“No.”

“Care to share?” I asked, looking to the other patients.

The Doctor stared at me with wide eyes. “They’ve all got the same injuries.” He scanned another patient.

“Yes.”

“ _ Exactly _ the same?” I asked as he scanned another.

“ _ Exactly _ the same!”

“Yes.”

“Identical, all of them, right down to the scar on the back of the hand.” The Doctor noted. 

I turned to Constantine. He was trying to hide the scar on his hand.

“How did this happen?” My friend interrogated before I could ask about the scar. “How did it start?”

“When that bomb dropped, there was just one victim.” Constantine began. 

“Dead?” The Doctor reasoned.

“At first.” The doctor added. “His injuries were truly dreadful. By the following morning, every doctor and nurse who had treated him, who had touched him, had those exact same injuries. By the morning after that, every patient in the same ward, the exact same injuries. Within a week, the entire hospital. Physical injuries as plague. Can you explain that?

_ ‘Jamie is Patient Zero. He has to be.’ _ I thought.

_ ‘Would explain why Nancy seems to know so much.’ _ The Doctor agreed.

_ ‘Doctor. Constantine has the scar.’ _

He looked to the other doctor in surprise, then morouse understanding. 

“What would you say was the cause of death?” 

The Doctor shrugged. There had been a lot to choose from. “The head trauma.”

“No.”

“Asphyxiation.”

“No.”

“The collapse of the chest cavity-”

“Nothing.” I supplied, my eyes scanning the patients.  _ ‘If Jamie is still wandering around alive, then why shouldn’t they?’  _ “They’re not dead.”

In response, Constantine whacked a trash can. The loud bang was enough to jerk the patients awake. The Doctor backed away in a panic, while I balled my fists in case of a fight. It was instinct, okay?

“It’s all right. They’re harmless. They just sort of sit there. No heartbeat, no life signs of any kind.” Constantine assured. “They just don’t die.” He finished.

“Then what? They just locked them all up in here?” I snapped as the patients lied back down. “Just tucked them in bed and turned off the light? Like they didn’t matter?”

“I try and make them comfortable.” Constantine replied. “What else is there?”

“Just you?” Magoo inquired. “You’re the only one here?”

Constantine gave the Doctor an even look. “Before this war began, I was a father and a grandfather. Now I am neither.” His eyes watered in either pain of the nanogenes or pain of losing family. Probably the latter. “But I’m still a doctor.”

The Doctor gulped. “Yeah. I know the feeling.”

I sent him a reassuring mental wave, walking closer to his side. He sent back one of thanks. “Just a repair girl over here.” I commented, staring at the patients idly. “Universal repair girl.”

“I suspect the plan is to blow up the hospital and blame it on a German bomb.” Constantine remarked.

“Probably too late.” The Doctor stated.

“No. There are isolated cases.” He coughed. The Doctor and I stiffened. “Isolated cases breaking out all over London.”

Constantine coughed again.

I moved towards him. “You have the-”

“Stay back, stay back.” The war doctor wheezed. His face was turning red, holding back the gas mask. I watched in sadness as he struggled to speak. “Listen to me. Top floor. Room  _ eight-oh-two _ . That’s where they took the first victim, the one from the crash site. And you must find Nancy again.”

“Nancy?” The Doctor asked.

“What’s she got to do with this?” I added.

“It was her brother.” Constantine wheezed. 

“Her  _ brother _ ?” I tilted my head. “No, no. That  _ still  _ doesn’t make any sense.”

“She knows more than she’s saying.” The war doctor coughed and gagged. “She won’t tell me, but she might...” He grabbed at his neck, choking. “ _ Mummy _ .”

I took a step back.

Constantine was struggling to get the words out. “Are you my mummy?”

In a grotesque scene, Constantine’s face was slowly replaced with a gas mask. I couldn’t look away from it, no matter how much it made me feel sick.

The man hunched over in his seat, head drooping on his shoulder. It was sad to watch in reality, even if he would be cured.

I turned to walk away, my elbow hitting the Doctor’s. He tore his eyes from the prone man, following me out the door.

 

==CON==

 

“Hello?” The disembodied voice of Jack Harkness echoed in the hallway. 

“Hello?” Rose’s echoed behind him.

“Hello?”

I turned a corner to see him with Rose. The hard to miss World War 2 coat, black hair, strong jaw, and light blue eyes of Captain Jack Harkness. 

“Good evening.” Jack greeted, shaking the Doctor’s hand. “Hope we’re not interrupting.” Though, when the conman caught sight of me, it was like the Doctor became less important. “ _ Captain _ Jack Harkness. I’ve been hearing all about you two on the way over.”

The Doctor glanced at me in confusion. I shook my head, subtly. 

“He knows.” Rose reported, getting our attention. “I had to tell him about us being  _ Time Agents. _ ” She hinted.

I gave her a quick head bob, eyeing Jack. All I could see was the giant head I had joked with at Platform One, the one I called Buttface.

“And it’s a real pleasure to meet you, Mister Spock.” Jack smirked at me. The two of us started walking towards the hospital wing. Jack threw in his trademark smirk. “Which makes you Terra Johnson, the attack dog.”

“No.” I spoke flatly, giving him a look that said I did not appreciate the flirting. Though, I was moving, so I guess that made me his type. Still, not interested in my sister’s future date.

Jack grinned at me. He looked me up and down. “What are you-”

“No.” I repeated in the flat voice. 

He chuckled. Guess I was a challenge now. 

Jack walked over to a patient. I decided to play a fun game. “What do you think killed them?”

Jack shrugged. “Could’ve be anything.” He brought out the sonic gun. I bit my lip to keep in a laugh. “Asphyxiation from the mask, the hit on the side of the head-”

“Check the next one.” I insisted, hands slipping into my pockets.

“Why?”

“It’s gonna  _ change your life _ .”

Jack took the bait. Keeping eye contact with me, he went to scan the next body. I just watched with an amused expression. The stunned look on his face was priceless. “What?”

“I  _ know _ .”

“This just isn’t possible. How did this happen?” Jack asked me.

“I  _ know _ .”

The Doctor marched in, arms crossed. “What kind of Chula ship landed here?”

“What?” Jack asked the Doctor.

“Did things happen that I’m not privy too?” I asked, looking between Rose and Jack.

Rose looked at Jack with narrowed eyes. She was in a matching pose to the Doctor. These two, I don’t even know what to do with them anymore. “I was hanging from a barrage balloon, when he caught me in his ship. The thing we were chasing was his. He said it was a warship.” The Doctor whirled to face Rose. “He stole it, parked it somewhere out there, somewhere a bomb’s going to fall on it unless we make him an offer.”

“Ah.” I turned to Jack. “What kind of warship?”

The ex-Time Agent stared at me in confusion. He went over to another patient. “Does it matter? It’s got nothing to do with  _ this. _ ”

“‘ _ This’ _ started at the bombsite.” The Time Lord fumed. “It’s got everything to do with it.” The Doctor pressed. “What kind of warship?”

“ _ An ambulance! _ ” Jack yelled. He sighed. “Look.”

He typed on his vortex manipulator. My hands went into my hoodie pockets, once again enjoying the chill of the freezer hoodie. Jack showed us the hologram of the ambulance. 

“That’s what you chased through the Time Vortex. It’s space junk.” Jack explained in a tight voice. “I wanted to kid you it was valuable. It’s empty. I made sure of it. Nothing but a shell. I threw it at you.” Jack paused his speech to be a complete fangirl, and I do mean fan _ girl _ . “Saw your time travel vehicle, love the retro look, by the way, nice panels. Threw you the bait-”

“Bait?” The companion asked in a hurt voice.

“I wanted to sell it to you and then destroy it before you found out it was junk.” Jack explained.

“You said it was a war ship.” Rose spoke in a hurt voice.

“They have ambulances in wars.” I pointed out. She threw a glare at me. “What? They do!”

Jack walked around us, towards the door. I followed him, wanting to be a friend right now. He would need one when he slept with my sister. “It was a con. I was conning you. That’s what I am,  _ I’m a con man. _ ”

Jack Harkness is a good man. No one deserves to have their memories taken away. It was a horrible thing to have days missing. To not even know the crime you had committed to earn such a heartless punishment. The random thoughts of  _ ‘is that what I did?’ _ or to do something horrible and think  _ ‘whatever I did, was it worse than this?’ _ No one deserved that endless torment.

“I thought you were Time Agents.” He turned to me, angry now. “You’re not, are you.”

“We’re more freelancers.” I chimed.

Jack scoffed. “Oh. Should have known. The way you guys are blending in with the local color.” He joked, laughing humorlessly. “I mean, Flag Girl was bad enough, but U-Boat Captain and Rosie the Riveter?”

Not gonna lie, that made me laugh. Jack’s description of me was just about spot on. He’d been in World War 2 time too long to be making references like that. Of course Magoo wasn’t helping, with his  _ ‘the fuck did you just say about my leather?’ _ face. Then, Magoo’s nickname for me: the Sailor.

The Time Lord gave me a look.  _ ‘You’re not helping.’ _

_ ‘Good observation.’ _ I laughed.  _ ‘Anything else, oh wise U-Boat Captain?’ _

He glared at Jack.  _ ‘Chula ambulance’s are stocked with nanobots known as nanogenes. They’re more than capable of changing all of these people. Rose’s new boyfriend is responsible.’ _ The Doctor thought, furious.

I winced.  _ ‘Okay. Terrific point. Side note: this guy was honestly shocked when he scanned all the bodies. They were news to him too. So let’s cut him some slack okay?’ _

“Anyway, whatever’s happening here has got nothing to do with that ship.” Jack assured.

“What _ is  _ happening here?” Rose asked the Doctor and I. 

“Human DNA is being rewritten by an idiot.” The Time Lord stated.

_ ‘Dude, cut him slack.’ _ I snapped.  _ ‘He didn’t know.’ _

_ ‘Doesn’t mean it’s not his fault.’ _ The Doctor argued.

“What does he mean?” Rose asked me.

I threw him a silencing glare. “There’s a virus turning humans into  _ that _ .” I gestured to the patients.

“But why?” The Doctor asked. “What’s the point?”

The four of us separated, walking to various patients. I kept a bit of distance from the patients, jump scares hadn’t been my friend as of late. They made me laugh.

Rose yelped when the patients sat up in bed. I flinched back, hiding my laugh. 

“Mummy.” They chorused. “Mummy.”

“What’s happening?” Rose asked.

“I don’t know.” The Doctor admitted.

The patients stood up from their beds, all their gas masked faces staring at us. “Mummy.”

The four of us moved to the corner, Magoo at the front. I stood in front of Jack, not wanting to risk my friend.

“Don’t let them touch you!” I ordered.

“What happens if they touch us?” Rose whimpered.

“You’re looking at it.” The Doctor warned. 

“Help me, mummy?”

They crowded around the four of us, all the victims of this horrible plague. We kept searching for a way out, we were utterly surrounded. Jack was aiming his sonic gun about, trying to intimidate them. It didn’t work.

“Doc, what the heck do we do?” I asked him as one of the gas mask wearing patients nearly touched me. “What do we do?!”

“Mummy. Mummy. Mummy. Mummy. Mummy. Mummy.”


	14. The Doctor and Terra Dance

“Go to your room.”

Those words might as well have been gospel from the heavens. My hearts were going fast paced as one of the patients had been just within touching range. I had shut my eyes, trying to trick myself as to be anywhere else but here. It wasn’t working, though it didn’t stop me from trying.

One of my eyes slowly opened. My hearts beat just a bit faster seeing them all stand  _ too close _ . My fight-or-flight instincts were telling me to  _ runrunrunthefuckoutofhere _ . I realized I was being an idiot. They weren’t even really zombies, it was just a bunch of adults in a really  _ FUCKING  _ creepy setting saying a fucking creepy line.

“Go to your room.” The Doctor repeated. “I mean it. I’m very, very angry with you. I am very, very cross. Go to your room!”

My other eye eased open. The patients were sulking back to their beds, their ‘rooms’. I took in a breath I hadn’t even known I was holding in. They weren’t proper zombies, they were people full of nanogenes. I’m ridiculous. I am official the most ridiculous person in this room, and the Doctor exists.

“I’m really glad that worked. Those would have been terrible last words.” He turned a side eye at me. “Though not as bad as your shouting at me.”

“I was a  _ little  _ nervous.” I admitted. My hands slipped into my hoodie pocket. “Zombies freak me out, okay?”

The Doctor kept up his grin. Does he know that I am all for slapping his face? “Zombies? Really?”

“Shut it. I bet if zombies came after you, you’d go screaming like a b- _ baby. _ ” I warned. Oh, I had been so close to calling him a bitch. Still am, actually.

My half swear just made him smile wider.

Rose and Jack had wondered off during our conversation. Jack had gone to Constantine’s chair, propping his legs up on the desk. Rose was going to the patients, looking closely at their masks.

“Why are they all wearing gas masks?” Rose asked, her heart slowing down to normal. 

“They’re not.” Jack stated. “Those masks are flesh and bone.”

“Jack, explain to me how this con was supposed to go.” I ordered. If Magoo did it, I don’t think he’d say it kindly this go around.

Jack shrugged thoughtfully. “Simple enough, really.” I walked up to his table, sitting beside him. “Find some harmless piece of space junk, let the nearest Time Agent track it back to Earth, convince him it’s valuable, name a price. When he’s put fifty percent up front, oops!”

He glanced to the Doctor, who hadn’t stopped giving him the evil eye since Jack started talking. I paid attention to his words, though. A formality, but Jack was still a friend (or at least would be).

“A German bomb falls on it, destroys it forever. He never gets to see what he’s paid for, never knows he’s been had.” Jack explained. I’ll admit, it had some good points. “I buy him a drink with his own money, and we discuss dumb luck. The perfect self-cleaning con.”

“No wonder it messed up.” I stated, sitting up. “You never say anything is fool proof. That’s when it stops being foolproof.”

Jack was about to give me an annoyed look, but it changed to an amused grin. “Fair point.” He chuckled. 

The Doctor was giving  _ me _ the evil eye now.

“The London Blitz is great for self-cleaners.  Pompeii’s nice if you want to make a vacation of it though, but you’ve got to set your alarm for volcano day.” Jack laughed. I glared angrily, reminded of  _ Fires of Pompeii _ . “Getting a hint of  _ disapproval _ .”

The Doctor responded in kind. “Take a look around the room.” He gestured to the patient beds. “This is what your  _ harmless piece of space-junk  _ did.”

The urge to roll my eyes at him, to butt into the argument and get them to shut up, took everything in me to hold back. “It was a burnt-out medical transporter. It was  _ empty _ .” Jack argued.

“Magoo, Carolina, Buttface.” I called out, rising out of my chair towards the door.

Jack threw his head back and laughed. “Buttface?”

“It was either that, or Jackass.”

“Sailor!” The Doctor shouted, in warning and humor. He was walking to the door too.

“Shut it Magoo!” I shouted back. “And  _ that _ happens when I swear, so you’re Buttface.”

“Alright. I’m calling you TJ.”

“You learn fast.”

Rose sighed in exasperation. Guess I couldn’t bond with her boyfriend. “Terra, are we getting out of here?” She asked, walking up beside me.

“Upstairs.” I ordered, sternly. The Doctor was still angrily glaring at Jack.  _ ‘Okay. He did it. He has no IDEA he did it. Let’s show him what happened. He’ll put it together, and you’ll see that he’s decent.’ _

The Doctor scoffed mentally.  _ ‘Does your profile trick tell you that?’ _

_ ‘Yes.’ _ I stated. The Doctor threw a skeptical wave at me.  _ ‘You didn’t hate Rose when she apologized for what happened with her dad. You won’t hate Jack for that.’ _

It wasn’t because of the other episodes that told me that. It would be too easy. It was the Doctor in general. He forgave Rose as soon as she apologized, as soon as she faced the consequences of her actions. He forgave Jack. If Jack wasn’t immortal, the two of them might have gotten along really well.

Jack didn’t stop trying to get on the Doctor’s good side. “I even programmed the flight computer so it wouldn’t land on anything living. I harmed  _ no-one _ . I don’t know  _ what’s _ happening here, but believe me, I had nothing to do with it!”

“I’ll tell you what’s happening.” The Doctor interjected. His voice boomed. It surprises me that he didn’t wake any of them up. “You forgot to set your alarm clock. It’s volcano day.”

Jack stared in exasperation. The comment was rude, though not uncalled for.

Immediately after, a siren sounded off in the distance.

“What’s that?” Rose asked, cautious.

“The all clear.” The conman and I answered.

“I wish.” The Time Lord grumbled, before sassily marching out.

 

==CON==

 

The Doctor marched quickly down the hallway. The humans could barely catch up. No idea why, I felt I was actually going slowly.

_ ‘How can your profiling tell you that he’s decent?’ _ The Doctor thought.

I mentally shrugged.  _ ‘Keep in mind, I don’t have all the facts. I don’t like to judge without facts. My profile, though, and my gut instinct, says that Jack isn’t doing this for money.’ _

_ ‘He’s a conman!’ _ The Time Lord argued sternly.

_ ‘We had him made before he could ask for money. I wasn’t there when Rose found him, but I’m willing to bet he found her specifically because she wasn’t from here. He could have done the con with any of the military men, they’re the ones that really want this warship. He chose her, a  _ Time Agent _. His manipulator seems to be in working order, or at least enough for a trip out, so he’s not stuck. He wants something  _ other _ than money.’ _

The Doctor paused while we were on the stairs, staring at me.  _ ‘You really figured all that out just after five minutes with him?’ _

_ ‘Two minutes made me an expert, five is ample.’ _ The quote came suddenly, but felt perfect.  _ ‘I can tell he’s a good person because he didn’t try to run when he found out we couldn’t give him what he wanted. He’s curious about what’s happening, and will be horrified with himself when we tell him it was his fault.’ _

The Doctor quirked an eyebrow.  _ ‘Or, he doesn’t know we can’t get it for him.’ _

_ ‘He want Time Agents. Not us.’ _ I explained. It was annoying now that he wasn’t getting this.

He added a stern glare Jack’s way.  _ ‘I don’t like people with guns. Even if he’s an ex-Time Agent, he’d still carry around his blaster. And he’s got a rifle the British Army gave him when he signed up.’ _ He turned to look me in the eye.  _ ‘And I know you’ve seen it.’ _

I didn’t reply, because he was right.

“TJ?” Jack shouted. “Mister Spock?”

“Terra?” Rose called out. “Doctor?”

The Doctor leaned over beside me. “Have you got a blaster?” He asked Jack conversationally. The two humans stopped and turned back. Rose huffed in exasperation. 

Jack grinned. “Sure!” He rushed up the stairs, pulling out his blasted. 

_ ‘I don’t trust people with guns.’ _ The Doctor repeated in a victorious voice.

My first thought after was that I had a gun, several. I was the Last Time Lady, and I was a big disappointment to him wasn’t I?

The four of us rushed to Jamie’s room. I kept looking down to my bag, thinking about the various weapons I had deep inside it. The Doctor was right on another thing about training, it was hard to let go of it even after you moved on. There had been multiple times to past three months.

Had it really been three months?

A heavy weight settled in my chest when I realized I could never introduce him to Darcy. I had thought, maybe later the two could meet. She was my sister, my best friend, so of course I’d want to see her, but not now. She was everything he hated. Any of my companions had been. They were all reformed killers. They all liked a working gun near their hands. Even Hero, the reformed Leroy, had a violent streak.

Worse off, I knew I had could never tell him about my dark side. He’d be disgusted with me, like I was.

I jumped out of my thoughts when we reached Jamie’s room. “You set it not to hit anything living.” I explained dutifully to Captain Jack and Carolina. My back leaned against the wall beside them. “It hit something that wasn’t living. The hospital found him, placed him in here.”

“What happened?” Rose asked me.

The Doctor turned to us, grinning condescendingly. “Let’s find out.” He offered the door to Jack. “Get it open.”

He stepped away from the door, giving the Captain room. The conman stood confidentially, smirking at me as he aimed at the door knob.

“What’s wrong with your sonic screwdriver?” Rose asked

The Doctor shrugged. “Nothing.”  _ ‘Nothing from you on it.’ _ The Doctor warned, faintly sarcastic.

I kept uncharastically silent.

The Captain threw me a wink as he made a square hole of the lock. He swung the door open, beaming like a child with their first A plus. I gave him a weak smile, for some reason unable to make it more realistic.

So what if I could never tell the Doctor, the one person who I thought could handle it, about her? He’d throw me out of the TARDIS, out of his life. He was my friend, I didn’t want to lose my friend. But...but I  _ wanted  _ to tell him...I needed to tell  _ someone _ .

This was insane! Why was I like this? The Doctor said  _ nothing _ that could mean losing a friend. Why was the idea just suddenly there?

Because I knew he would think the worst once I told him. How could he look at me the same after finding out how long I let her use my body? After all the hurt I caused, lives I destroyed, I shouldn’t be trusted.

“Sonic blaster, fifty first century. Weapon Factories of Villengard?” The Doctor walked to the door, taking the blaster in his hands.

“You’ve been to the factories?” Jack asked.

“Once.”

“Well, they gone now, destroyed.” Captain Jack explained. I gave the Doctor a look. “The main reactor went critical. Vaporized the lot.”

“Like I said. Once.” The Doctor snarked. I gave a dry snort. Even if I was hurting, it was still a funny joke. “There’s a banana grove there, now. I like bananas. Bananas are good.”

He walked into Jamie’s room. I followed after, lingering just a bit like when Jackie met the Doctor.

“Nice blast pattern.” Rose commented.

Jack smirked at her, though he was making sure I heard too. “Digital.”

“Squareness gun.” Rose added, loving the tech.

“Yeah.” Jack agreed. 

Rose nodded. “I like it.” She followed the Doctor, going past me. 

Jack chuckled, walking to my side. “And you, TJ?”

I gave him a small smile. “It was decent.”

“Just decent?”

“Well, yeah. People don’t really like  _ squares. _ ” I teased.

Jack draped his left arm over my shoulder, his left side nearly pressing against my right. I tended at the sudden contact, but not enough for it to be uncomfortable. He was just giving me a friendly hug, right? Darcy had done this dozens of times.

“I’m a bit rusty on my slang.” Jack commented. He looked down at me, eyes glinting with his overly friendly affection. I (hopefully) gave the same teasing look back. “But square does refer to somebody  _ boring? _ ”

“Quick study.” I joked. My eyes scanned the small room we were approaching.

“Trust me, I’m not boring.” Jack stated, his trademark smirk getting wider.

The two of us walked into the room. I looked over the broken glass, the fallen over chair, and the small child sized room.

I snorted. “Oh? Then please, Buttface. First glance?”

The conman looked over. “Something got out of here.” Jack stated, not taking his arm off my shoulders.

_ ‘What are you doing?’ _ The Doctor suddenly asked in my head. He sounded mad.

_ ‘Just...just standing here.’ _ I replied, confused.

“Yeah. And?” The Doctor asked curtly to us. I gave him a look, reminding him our talk was in our heads and it should stay there. He was still angry.  _ ‘Terra, his arm is over your shoulders. You _ hate _ people touching your shoulder. I don’t know what century you think he’s from, but men from the fifty first century? They call that flirting.’ _

I glared at him.  _ ‘I’m not flirting. I don’t  _ flirt _. Can we please just move on?’ _ I cut off the conversation, not wanting to talk about this anymore.

“Something powerful.” Jack went on. Thank the Story. The Time Lord’s angry eyes had Jack’s arm slipping off me. “Angry.”

The Doctor hmm’d. He was still angry at Jack, even though Jack had stepped off. What the hell, Doc? “Powerful and angry.”

Nodding my head, I walked with Jack to Jamie’s room. “Sounds about right.” I mused. 

My eyes went to the various pictures of various motherly figures. It hurt to think a half dead child had drawn this, looking for a mom he thought was dead, so I walked back into the recording room.

The Doctor was setting it up, I just moved it along. There was a small push in my mind as he tried to talk to me, but I didn’t want to talk. I kept up  and tail wall to keep him out, instead working on the tape recorder.

He gave me a curious face. I ignored it. My head kept sending my back to the days with Pops. The one that stood out was the time his experiment turned everyone, save Lilo and I, into babies. That didn’t mess with the family dynamic at all.

“A child? I suppose this explains Mummy.” The conman stated.

Rose turned to us, confusion in her eyes. “How could a child do this?”

I flipped the switch to the recordings.

_ “Do you know where you are?” _ Came the voice of Constantine.

Jamie’s voice came after.  _ “Are you my mummy?” _

_ “Are you aware of what’s around you? Can you see?”  _ Constantine’s recording asked.

_ “Are you my mummy?” _ Jamie asked.

_ “What do you want? Do you know-” _

_ “I want my mummy.” _ Jamie ordered.  _ “Are you my mummy? I want my mummy! Are you my mummy? Are you my mummy? Mummy? Mummy?” _

“Doctor, Terra, I’ve heard this voice before.” His companion added.

The Doctor nodded briskly. “Us too.”

_ “Mummy?” _

“Always _ are you my mummy _ ? Like he doesn’t know.” Rose pointed out softly.

_ “Mummy?” _

“Why doesn’t he know?” Rose asked.

I hissed, flinching back. “Hey! That sentence turned my hearts on! Why did you do that? It’ll take forever to turn them off.”

Jack chuckled.

It was a joke to hide the growing sense in the back of my head. The big dose of psychic energy that was all over this room like a bad smell. It was giving me a headache.

Beside me, the Doctor was having the same problem.

_ “Are you there, mummy? Mummy? Mummy? Please, mummy? Mummy?” _

Rose looked up at the fidgety Time Lord. “Doctor?”

The Doctor was staring at them incredulously. “Can you sense it?”

“Sense what?”

“ _ It! _ ” I replied, the feeling growing stronger the closer Jamie was.

“Coming out of the walls. Can you feel it?” The Doctor added.

_ “Mummy?” _

The Doctor shook his head at them, grinning. “Funny little human brains. How do you get around in those things?”

“When he’s stressed, he likes to insult species.” Rose explained to Jack.

“Rose, I’m thinking.” The Doctor snapped.

“He cuts himself shaving, he does half an hour on life forms he’s cleverer than.” Rose added, ignoring him.

“My favorite was the one when he slammed his foot into the console.” I chuckled, braving through the mental storm. “That rant about the Wohcnu?”

The Doctor had ranted for twenty minutes about how the Wohcnu, and how they were parasitic worms with red eyes that liked decorating. He kept talking about how stupid it was that they couldn’t make a decent government if it hit them in the face.

Rose chuckled too. “Oh my god. That was hilarious!”

The Doctor interrupted our musings. “There are these children living rough round the bomb sites. They come out during air-raids looking for food.”

It brought me back to the seriousness. My smile dropped, turning cold. “Their leader is a girl named Nancy. Her  _ ‘brother’ _ wandered out in an air raid, the night the med-ship landed.” I explained.

_ “Mummy, please?” _

“It was a med-ship.” Jack repeated. “It was harmless!”

“Yes, you keep saying  _ harmless _ .” The Doctor spat. “Suppose one of them was affected, altered?”

“Altered how?” Rose asked.

The tape ran out right after. “I’m here!” Jaime called out from the hallway.

I glared at the Doctor. He went on pointedly ignoring my stare.

“It’s afraid. Terribly afraid and powerful. It doesn’t know it yet, but it will do.” Magoo began to grin, as if suddenly remembering what position he put us in. “It’s got the power of a god, and I just sent it to it’s room.”

The woman in the Union Jack shirt glared at him. “Doctor.” Rose began, nervous. 

“See the problem yet?” I questioned them. Jack was staring at me curiously, waiting for an answer. I smiled, innocently.

“I’m here. Can’t you see me?”

Rose glanced from the Doctor to me. “What’s that noise?”

“End of the tape.” I answered her, but made sure to keep smiling innocently at Jack. “It ran out about thirty seconds ago.”

“I’m here, now. Can’t you see me?”

The two humans froze as they realized the voice couldn’t be coming from the tapes.

“I sent it to it’s room.” Magoo explained. “ _ This _ is it’s room.”

So slowly, the four of us turned to the door.

“Are you my mummy? Mummy?” Jamie asked.

 

==CON==

 

“Doctor?” Rose asked, looking for the plan.

“Okay, on my signal make for the door.” Jack ordered. 

My hand slipped into his jacket, pulling out the blaster. A near century of living on the streets makes a good pick pocket out of you. The Doctor followed after me, giving Jack the banana instead. 

“Mummy?” Jamie repeated.

“Now!” Jack shouted, pulling out the banana.

“Mummy?” Jamie asked, having no idea a square could have been made of him.

I pulled out Jack’s gun, firing it at a point in the wall. “Move out!” I ordered. Rose climbed out.

“Don’t drop the banana!” The Doctor added as Jack followed her.

“Why not?!” Jack snapped.

“Good source of potassium!” The Doctor shouted before leaping in.

I stared sadly at Jamie.  _ ‘I’m getting you hell, Jamie, I promise.’ _

He tilted his head.

I went through the hole in the wall, stepping nearly into the conman himself.

“Give me that!” Jack tried grabbing it out of my hands.

I pulled it out of reach. “You were going to shoot the kid with it?” My thumb flipped the digital rewind switch.

“It was to give us time to escape!” Jack defended.

“For future reference, I’m against shooting kids.” I warned him. 

He looked at me incredulously. Guess he didn’t think Jamie was a kid anymore. Though, hearing Jamie call for his mummy unnerved me. I flipped the switch on the gun, firing it back at the hole in the wall. 

“Digital rewind.” I explained flatly to Carolina. “Neat trick.”

Jack blinked in surprise. “How did you do that?”

“I’m good with tech.” Was my curt response. “Especially alien tech.”

It seemed to be enough of an explanation. Jack also picked up that he lost brownie points with me. The conman turned to the Doctor, tossing him the banana. “Nice trick.”

“It’s from the groves of Villengard.” Magoo supplied. “I thought it was appropriate.”

“There’s really a banana grove in the heart of Villengard and you did that?” Jack questioned.

The Doctor gave that trademark grin. “Bananas are good.”

Jamie smashed his fists on the wall. I stared at it, thinking of all the best ways to get us out.

“Terra!” Rose called out. Her hand lashed out, grabbing my wrist.

“Moving on!” I dragged her towards the opposing hallway. The Doctor at the lead, Jack on the tail end.

We made it about halfway before the doors opposite opened. The patients had woken up, walking towards us chanting for mummy. We turned back, only to see the same happening down the other hall. There was nowhere else to stand but where Jamie was about to break free.

“He’s keeping us trapped until he can get to us.” I explained. My eyes were on the floor, looking for the best place to make the fun way down.

“It’s controlling them?” Jack asked, shocked.

“It is them.” I corrected, giving him a quick glare. “Anything it touches becomes another soldier. Kinda why I didn’t want to shoot the kid. It would’ve made him angry.”

Jack’s eyes were soft in understanding. He turned back to the approaching army. “Okay. That blaster, which you should really give back-”

“All’s fair in love and war.”

“It can function as a sonic blaster, a sonic cannon, and as a triple-enfolded sonic disrupter.” Jack listed. “Terra, what you got?”

“In my bag I have three glocks, five magazines, a plasma blaster, bo staff, arrow and bow, smoke bombs, the means to make four really small bombs or one big one, tasers, throwing knives, and a really big sword.”  The conman stared at the bag, wondering how it all fit. Rose were looking at me in confusion. The Doctor, he was disappointed. “And your blaster, but I don’t have time to pull any of them out.”

“You fit it all in that?”

“You should see me play tetris.” I teased, moving myself to the best spot to send us all down.

Jack grinned, keeping watch of the approaching soldiers. “Doc, what you got?”

The Doctor pulled it out. “I’ve got a sonic, er.” He dropped the sentence. If he had been arguing with Jack over Rose, then shouting he had a screwdriver wouldn’t help. “Oh, never mind.”

Jack didn’t let up. “What?”

“It’s sonic, okay? Let’s leave it at that.”

“Disrupter? Cannon? What?”

“We don’t have time for this!” I shouted angrily at them.

“It’s sonic! Totally sonic! I am soniced up!”

“A sonic  _ what _ ?!”

“ _ Screwdriver! _ ” The Doctor and I shouted.

There was a loud crash when Jaime crashed through the wall. I growled, taking the blaster again. Rose and I exchanged a look of understanding. For lack of creativity, my warning was a simple “Going down!” To the boys.

The four of us fell to the floor below. I quickly gained my bearings. Aiming the gun at the ceiling, I closed the hole. Sorry Jamie, find another way down.

“Doctor, are you okay?” Rose asked, 

The Doctor gave me a look of compliant. “Could’ve used a warning.”

“Oh, the gratitude.” Rose snarked.

“Wow. Don’t thank me all at once.” I deadpanned.

Jack yanked the blaster from me. I scoffed, deciding to look for the storage room. “Who has a sonic screwdriver?” He asked the Doctor.

The Time Lord turned haughty. “I do.”

Rose got to her feet. “Lights.” She mumbled, walking to a wall.

“Carolina, I really wouldn’t do that.” I warned her over my shoulder.

“Who looks at a screwdriver and thinks, ‘ _ ooo, this could be a little more sonic’ _ ?” Jack asked.

The Doctor didn’t hide annoyance. “What, you’ve never been bored?”

“There’s got to be a light switch.” Rose grumbled.

“Carolina, hold on!” I hissed.

“Never had a long night? Never had a lot of cabinets to put up?” The Doctor argued. “And you!” He pointed at me.

“Me? Why am I in trouble?” I questioned. He was glaring fiercely, with quick looks to my bag. “Oh Story. Yes. I have an armory in my bag. So what?”

“So, I don’t like people hiding things from me!” The Doctor argued. “Especially when those things are guns!”

“I was in the FBI! They have guns there!” I argued. “I’ve had these guns the whole time. You just don’t need a gun to kill someone.”

The lights went up. Was this some kind of reaction, or example? There was anytime to think on it because the patients woke up.

The patients sat up.  _ RUNRUNRUNFUCKINGRUN!  _ They started to chant, so I grabbed Rose’s wrist to drag her towards the side room.

“Door.” Jack insisted, raising his blaster.

“Agreed.” I dragged Rose behind him.

“Damn it!”

“Why do you think I gave it back?” I called to him. The Doctor came up, sonicing the lock.

Jack grunted in annoyance. “It’s the special features. They really drain the battery.” He commented just as the Doctor got the door open.

Rose gawked at him. “The battery?” Rose turned to me, wondering if I was seeing her only hope vanish. “That’s so lame!”

Jack glared at us. “I was going to send for another one, but somebody’s got to blow up the factory.” He threw the Doctor a glare.

Rose snorted. “Oh, I know. First day I met him, he blew my job up. That’s practically how he communicates.” She assured.

“ _ I _ blew up your job.” I corrected her in annoyance. “He just made it bigger.”

“Right, thanks for that.” Rose commented.

“You weren’t in the building. Quit complaining.”

“Jack, completely forgot to say, that Terra gets 

The Doctor walked away from the door. “Okay, that door should hold it for a bit.” 

“The door? The wall didn’t stop it!” Jack shouted.

“Well, it’s got to find us first!” The Doctor reminded him. He turned to Rose and I. “Come on, we’re not done yet! Assets, assets!” He prompted.

“Well, I’ve got a banana, and in a pinch you could put up some shelves.” Jack listed.

“It doesn’t work on wood-you don’t care.” I supplied, until the fifty-second century man turned to me in annoyance.

“Window.” The Doctor offered.

Jack shook his head. “Barred. Sheer drop outside. Seven stories.”

“And no other exits.” Rose supplied

“There’s a wheelchair.” I added, just as Jack dropped into it. 

My words brought me to Jack’s attention. “You have a lot of weapons in that bag of your’s.”

I threw him an annoyed look. “Yeah. The guns required signed waivers before I could even _ think  _ about them. No way I’m passing them out like party favors. There’s no telling if any of them would actually work. The bombs would take too long, and the resulting blasts would hurt us too.”

“Okay, what about the sword?” Jack tried. 

It made a small part of me happy that Jack was getting so annoyed. “You missed the part when I said ‘ _ no weapons on kids’ _ didn’t you?” I asked rhetorically. “Plus that sword is-” _ Enchanted to only work with the magic of a fairy? _ “-broken.”

Jack huffed indignantly. “Well, the assets conversation went in a flash, didn’t it?”

The Doctor scowled at Captain Jack. “So, where’d you pick this one up, then?” He asked Rose.

“Watch it.” I cautioned.

The Captain brightened. “She was hanging from a barrage balloon, I had an invisible spaceship. I never stood a chance.” Jack gave Rose a flirty grin. She blushed.

“Okay.” The Doctor began. “One, we’ve got to get out of here.”

The conman and I exchanged a meaningful look. I gave a small nod, showing him I trusted him. Jack pressed a button on his manipulator, going away in a mechanical whir.

“Two, we can’t get out of here.” The Time Lord continued. “Have I missed anything?”

“Buttface is gone.”

The Doctor’s lips made a tight frown. It was his scornful attitude that kept me from being honest. About Darcy, the weapons in my bag, my years. He would hate me for it. He would call me a disappointment...

...and then Logan would be  _ right _ .

 

==CON==

 

There was a long moment of silence after that. The Doctor sat down on the table, a cross look on his face. Rose nervously paced around the room. I sat in the wheelchair, hands gripping the strap of my Infinity Bag.

There was a small push in my mind. I didn’t let him in. He hated the weapons, he would ask me to get rid of them. I would say no. He would kick me out of the TARDIS. I would have to stay with Darcy. Logan would find us...he would find my sister...I can’t let him hurt her too.

Rose tried to build the peace back between everyone. “Okay, so he’s vanished into thin air.” Rose turned her head towards me. “Can your profiling thing tell why it’s always the great looking ones who do that?”

I shrugged. “Their ears are usually so small they can’t hear you calling for them.”

Magoo turned to her. “I’m making an effort not to be insulted.”

“Just pretend I called you Magoo again.” I supplied. “I mean, I did, but I did it in my head.”

“I mean, gosh Terra,  _ men _ .” Rose sighed. The companion followed with a snorted. “Be happy you haven’t dated. Men are a great big mess.”

“Okay, thanks, that really helped.” The Doctor snarked.

The radio crackled to life. I sent a silent prayer of thanks to the Story.

“ _ Terra? Rose? Doctor? _ ” Jack’s voice came out from the grill. I smirked smugly at the Doctor. “ _ Can you hear me? I’m back on my ship.”  _ With every word Jack spoke, I let my smile grow wider. “ _ Used the emergency teleport. Sorry I couldn’t take you. It’s security-keyed to my molecular structure. I’m working on it. Hang in there.” _

The Doctor glared at the radio. I held back a snort. “How’re you speaking to us?” He asked

_ “Om-Com. I can call anything with a speaker grill.” _ Jack explained.

“Now  _ that _ there’s a coincidence.” I mused.

_ “What is?” _

“The child can Om-Com, too.” The Doctor explained.

Rose’s expression darkened. “He can?”

“Anything with a speaker grill.” The Doctor “Even the TARDIS phone.”

Rose gawked. “What, you mean the child can phone us?”

“ _ And I can hear you.” _ Jamie cheered. “ _ Coming to find you. Coming to find you.” _

I shivered.  _ “Terra, can you hear that?” _ Jack asked.

“Clear as crystal.” I replied. “What can you do about it?”

_ “I’ll try to block out the signal. Least I can do.” _ Jack charmed.

“Don’t keep me waiting, buttface.”

“ _ Coming to find you, mummy.” _ Jamie reminded.

_ “Wouldn’t dream of it, TJ.” _ Jack promised. “ _ Remember this one, Rose?” _

_ Moonlight Serenade _ came through the speakers. I hummed along, giving Rose a look. She smiled sheepishly. “Our song.”

 

==CON==

 

The song was still playing. I was standing beside it, since Rose took the wheelchair. The music gave me a backdrop to think.

My mind was spitting out decent plans of escape. Three of them required revealing my powers, so they were out. Another four wanted to use powers I don’t have right now. The next couple ones meant calling in Darcy, no chance was she getting mixed up in this. Our best bet was to wait for Buttface to beam us into his ship.

After Rose gave the wheelchair one last twirl, did she ask “What you doing?”

“Thinking of a way out that doesn’t involve dying or touching them.” My only plan was waiting for Jack, and filming the Dancing Talk. 

“I’m trying to set up a resonation pattern in the concrete, loosen the bars.” The Doctor added. 

Rose stared at him in surprise. “You don’t think he’s coming back, do you?”

The Doctor shrugged. “Wouldn’t bet my life.”

“Why don’t you trust him?” Rose asked.

“Why do you lot?” The Doctor looked to the two of us.

“Cause I profiled him.” I admitted. “He’s trustworthy.”

“Right. The profile you gave me. Is _ it  _ always trustworthy though?” The Doctor asked. It was always fun to meet the skeptics. They made the job more fun. Especially when they started doubting half way through a case, and people were dying, and the head of the police department wasn’t liking our methods. I would take too long to think about the people my team and I had offended because we profiled things they didn’t like. “He could be faking it.”

“He also could’ve left when he found out we weren’t Time Agents.” I reasoned. My voice had turned into that same  _ ‘I’m gonna give it to you straight, because people are in trouble and you can’t afford not to listen to us’ _ voice. “Captain Jack trusts us, and I trust him.”

The Doctor tsked. Stubborn to the bitter end, huh?

I looked to Rose. His companion had seemed hesitant to get in the middle of this. Why? She hadn’t had any trouble doing it before. I needed her help. She was the one to actually spend time with Jack, the one who led him to us. Surely that’s gotta be something. Rose wouldn’t have brought another bloke to us if they couldn’t be trusted, right?

She seemed to understand what I was asking. She turned to the Doctor, an exasperated look on her face. “He saved my life.” Rose stated. “Bloke-wise, that’s up there with flossing.” She told me. I nodded, pretending to take that seriously. “I trust him because he’s like you. Except with dating and dancing.”

The Doctor went back to his bars. I nervously fiddled with the latch on my bag. Neither of us could look Rose in the eye.

“What?”

The Doctor struggled a bit for words, trying to find a way out. I gripped my Bag tightly, as if holding it tight would turn it into a Portkey ( _ Portkey Plan dropped earlier, would require magic I don’t possess yet) _ to get me away from here. “You just assume I’m.” He looked away.

“What?” Rose asked, confused at the sudden awkwardness.

The Doctor managed to say “You just assume that I don’t  _ dance _ .”

Rose snickered. I was frankly embarrassed by the mental image of Magoo and Carolina Rose  _ dancing _ . “What, are you telling me you  _ do _ dance?”

“Nine hundred years old, me. I’ve been around a bit. I think you can assume at some point I’ve danced.” The Doctor countered.

“You?” Carolina laughed.

Magoo threw her a sassy look. “Problem?”

Carolina was chuckling, turning to me. I was blushing heavily, trying to hide behind my hair and hoodie. “Terra?”

“Nope.” My voice cracked a bit. Dozens of talks with Darcy were replaying in my head, most of which ended with me being teased on my  _ V card. _ Besides, I wasn’t talking about  _ dancing _ with these idiots. Or any idiot.

“Are you alright?” She asked.

“I’m not joining this discussion. Please carry on conversing without me.” I explained quickly, fighting a blush. Rose snorted. “What’s so funny?” I snapped.

She shook her head, laughing at harder whichever Time Lord she looked at. It wasn’t giving me a confidence boost. “Sorry. It’s just...I mean I knew you hadn’t before, but, you don’t  _ dance _ .”

I kept back a retort of _‘yeah_ _never have’_ because my sister had already beaten that horse. “Okay.”

“Does the universe implode or something if Time Lords dance?” Rose joked. I blushed. 

“Well, I’ve got the moves but I wouldn’t want to boast.” He joined in on her teasing.

While Carolina made her way to the radio, I kept my gaze away. The universe just might implode if I  _ dance _ , because that would mean I had a  _ boyfriend _ and he liked me  _ back _ . It would make another target for Logan, and I am never doing that to anyone else. 

There had been a few contenders. The odd coworker crush that grew into something the other didn’t feel. No one can imagine the pain of meeting the man you’ve had a crush on since you first saw him on TV, only for no fromande to kindle from his side of the could’ve-been-relationship. I was the queen of one sided relationships.

Nope. This wasn’t helping getting rid of my blush. I turned to stare at the wall, wanting to hide right now.

_ ‘What’s wrong?’ _ The Doctor asked. He sounded a mix of amused and proud. I tensed at the mental lashing I knew was coming.  _ ‘Upset the  _ conman  _ isn’t all you profiled him up to be?’ _

It just made me blush harder, because the Doctor honestly didn’t want me to  _ explain it! _ I squirmed in my seat, more discomfort and embarrassment being sent across the Time Lord link. 

There was a hum of him finally understanding.  _ ‘Oh.’ _

I glanced to Rose, who was walking to the radio.  _ ‘Yeah. So can we please stop?’ _

The Doctor sighed mentally.  _ ‘Terra, it’s not a bad thing-’ _

_ ‘NO! No. Stop. We are  _ _ not _ _ having this talk right now. Or ever. Just drop it.’ _ I pleaded. My parents never gave me the Talk, they knew I had figured it out by the time it would have been necessary. Darcy learned it all when my memories appeared in her head.

After many trips to high school, I knew that the only way to avoid talking about the V card was to talk about something more pressing on people’s mind. I actually preferred talking about chemistry homework to guys I would bang.

_ ‘You don’t trust people with guns. You don’t trust my profile. You don’t trust me, that’s fine. I’m fine. People don’t trust me, it’s nothing.’ _ I thought to him. I felt sudden dismay across the Time Lord bond.  _ ‘Stick to resonating concrete or whatever you’re actually doing. I’ll just stay here, being untrustworthy.’ _

His presence faded from my head. I was happy for it. He didn’t trust me. That was what I wanted wasn’t it? I didn’t what him to trust me, because if he did then Eleven would die for me. So what if it screwed up my past? I needed to keep everyone I cared about safe.  _ They can hate me, because at least then they’ll be alive. _

I pointedly avoided his eyes. Those deep ancient blue orbs would make me cave, to do anything to get me to get rid of my weapons. I needed to stay strong.

Behind us, the cheeky twenty-first century woman turned up the radio. Carolina skipped back to the Doctor. I sat down in the abandoned wheelchair.

“You’ve got the moves?” Carolina teased. “Show me your moves.”

Though I couldn’t see him, I knew the Doctor was looking at his lady love with a deer in the headlights look. “Rose, I’m trying to resonate concrete.” He argued lamely.

Rose didn’t care. “Jack’ll be back. He’ll get us out. So come on. The world doesn’t end because the Doctor dances.”

I quietly pulled out my phone, setting up the camera to start filming. If anything, this would get my mind off my own failed attempts at a relationship. Besides, this was excellent blackmail material.

The blonde held out her hands. After staring at her for a moment, the Doctor stepped down from his concrete. Rose smiled victoriously. I had to bite my lip to keep from laughing.

The Doctor didn’t start dancing, not even a little. He took Rose’s hands, staring at them incredulously. “Barrage balloon?”

Rose gave him a stunned look. “What?”

“You were hanging from a barrage balloon.” Magoo clarified.

I had to hold back a snort. It would’ve messed up the sound on my recording.

“Oh, yeah. About two minutes after you left me.” His companion teased. “Thousands of feet above London, middle of a German air-raid,  _ Union Jack _ all over my chest.”

The Doctor looked over at me. I lowered my phone so it would look like I was texting.

He was shaking his head at her when I got back into the shot. “I’ve travelled with a lot of people, but you’re setting new records for jeopardy friendly.” The Time Lord admitted, still looking at her hands.

“Is this you dancing? Because I’ve got notes.” Carolina spoke. The flirty tone going right over his head.

The Doctor gave her a flat look. Oh, Darcy is so gonna love this video. “Hanging from a rope thousands feet above London. Not a cut, not a bruise.” The Doctor simplified his problem.

“Yeah, I know.  _ Captain Jack  _ fixed me up.” Rose stated.

The Time Lord glowered. “Oh, we’re all calling him  _ Captain Jack _ now, are we?” He threw that last bit at me.

I didn’t get a chance to steal the 

“Well, his name’s Jack and he’s a Captain.” Rose explained with a teasing lit.

“He’s not really a Captain, Rose.” The Doctor stated, too happy a smile on his face.

Rose gave him a tongue-on-tooth grin. “Do you know what I think? I think you’re experiencing Captain envy.” Okay. That time I snickered. “You’ll find your feet at the end of your legs. You may care to move them.”

The world around us changed in a blink. We were on the Captain’s ship. I was standing next to the Captain now, and his smile told me it wasn’t an accident. Jack turned his chair towards me, smirking when he saw what I was doing.

I held a finger to my lips. He better keep his flirty mouth shut or he’s dead...well not permanently I’d just let off some steam. It would hurt though I can promise that!

“If ever he was a Captain, he’s been defrocked.” The Time Lord countered.  _ Aww, nobody touches the blonde. _

Rose giggled. “Yeah? Shame I missed that.”

“Actually, I quit.” The couple jumped apart from each other. They stared at Captain Jack in surprise, as well as their new surroundings. “Nobody takes my frock.” Jack stated. “Most people notice when they’ve been teleported.”

I whacked his arm. “Dude! I wanted to see how long they could do it!” I laughed. “They could’ve gone  _ two more minutes  _ without us.”

Buttface laughed. “You sound like you got experience.”

“ _ Three months worth! _ ” I groaned, stuffing my phone away. My hand reached over, messing up Jack’s hair. To my displeasure, the tousled look benefited him.

Buttface laughed. He playfully shoved my arm. “It looks like it.” The conman grinned at the couple. “Sorry about the delay. I had to take the nav-com offline to override the teleport security.”

“You can spend ten minutes overriding your own protocols?” The Doctor scoffed. “Maybe you should remember whose ship it is.”

“Oh, I do. She was gorgeous.” Buttface winked. “Like I told her, be back in five minutes.”

My sister had pulled that same stunt multiple times. It made me laugh to recall times she came back from a one night stand with a proud smirk and the guy’s wallet. We ate like queens on those days.

“Chula, right?” I asked, reclining against the wall right beside him.

“Yeah, just like that medical transporter.” Jack explained. “Only  _ this _ one is dangerous.” The last bit was directed at our mutual friend.

I don’t know why, but the thought of us all being friends made me smile. The Doctor must have caught it, and  _ not _ been happy with it. He sneered at the Captain. His fingers clicked together to reveal the nanogenes. 

Rose gasped. “They’re what fixed my hands up! Jack called them er.”

“Nanobots?” His expression darkened. “Nanogenes.”

“Nanogenes, yeah.” Rose

“Sub-atomic robots.” I cheered. It wasn’t implausible that I knew about this. In my hoodie, I had hundreds of nanobots keeping me cold. “There’s millions of them in here, see? They fixed the burns on y’alls hands.” I motioned to the others. Carolina was grinning, shaking her head probably amused at how every Time Lord knew so much about tech. The second Time Lord was appraising me. If I wanted to give cold hard facts, I could. “They activate when the bulkhead’s sealed. Check you out for damage, fix any physical flaws.”

“Wisely said, gorgeous.” Jack complimented.

I smirked, shrugging smugly. “Yeah, yeah, I’m super genius. Try not to be blown away by me.” That made both humans laugh. The Doctor was glaring at Jack, again. “Hey Buttface, can you get us to the crash site? See, Magoo and I have a theory about what’s causing all of this, but we need to see your space junk.”

The Captain saluted playfully. I sneered back in jokingly annoyance. “As soon as I get the nav-com back online.” Jack reported. He turned back to his control panel. “Make yourself comfortable.” He commented towards the love birds. “Carry on with whatever it was you two were doing.”

The Doctor bristled. “We were talking about dancing.”

Jack looked at them with a face of  _ ‘yeah right’ _ . “It didn’t look like talking.”

“It didn’t feel like dancing.” Rose added.

Jack glanced at me, then my phone, then he winked. Good, he wasn’t going to tell them about my impressive blackmail collection.

 

==CON==

 

Some odd minutes later, I struck up a conversation I’d been dying to start. It could be enough to bring the Doctor to Team Jack.

“Since we’re having a bit of friendly conversation.” I began, my hands slipping into my hoodie pocket. My body was in a relaxed pose against the wall near his pilot seat. “Buttface, my good conman, my walking contradiction, what’s your story? Why are you trying con your old bosses?”

“If it makes me sound any better, it’s not for the money.” Jack explained. His voice losing some of it’s flirting charm.

“A conman that doesn’t con for money. The contradictions just keep coming with you.” I threw the Doctor a  _ ‘told you so’  _ glare. He looked a bit off-put at how right I was. “Then what for?” I questioned.

Jack paused in his mechanics. He realized this would be a serious talk. He turned in his chair to the three of us, since all three of us would need to hear this story. Or, at least the Doctor. “Woke up one day when I was still working for them, found they’d stolen two years of my memories.” As Jack explained, I felt a large rock drop in my stomach. From the Doctor’s expression, he was thinking along the same lines I was. Rose’s eyes widened in agreement. “I’d like them back.”

“They stole your memories?” I spoke, a softness in my voice as I remembered nineteen years had been taken from me. 

Jack nodded. He braced himself to explain. “Two years of my life. No idea what I did. Your friend over there doesn’t trust me, and for all I know he’s right not to.”

When he was done, I turned to my traveling companions. They were looking to me, as if I held the answers. I was probably the only person on this ship who understood what Jack was going through. 

“Someone took mine too.” I admitted. 

Jack didn’t look at me, assuming I was faking. “Sorry, TJ, but you don’t know what it’s like.”

“You wake up somedays, and it doesn’t hit you for awhile. You’ll be making breakfast, or talking with someone, and you have to stop because you’ll find all the gaps in your head and it’s like the first time all over again. Just  _ blank days _ .” I explained in quick fire. Jack was staring at me in quiet surprise. “Sometimes, you’ll think you yourself  _ ‘did I do something worse than this?’ _ or  _ ‘what if I’m do the same thing without knowing?’ _ It makes your head spin thinking about it, so you try not to. Some days, you wonder if you even  _ want _ your memories back.”

Jack gawked, like honestly gawked. I kept going. “And these thoughts keep coming back. All the time. Maybe you begged for them to be taken, maybe they needed you alive but willing, or maybe it was all just some filing error. You can’t...you can’t tell and it drives you  _ crazy _ .”

“...and then you want them back again, because then those questions’ll stop. It’ll be horrible, but you still want to know.” Jack stated, voice uncharastically quiet. After a long pause, I nodded.

The two of us made eye contact for a long time. I couldn’t properly explain it, not with exact words. There were an unspoken agreement between us, a bond formed. It wasn’t a bond of lovers, far from it. It was a promise of friendship and protection.

It was the same bond I had with Darcy.

“How much?” The Captain asked.

A bittersweet smile grew on my face. “Nineteen years, or just about.” That got  _ ‘oh god’ _ looks from everyone. “Woke up and couldn’t remember anything about home. All I’ve got is that I had two moms and an aunt, and they were just the ones that adopted me after I was banished.” Jack looked at me in surprise. “My people, this weird alien species I’m not even _ going _ to get into. The Doctor’s one of my people, he says I was banished. My memories of home were wiped clean, and I was dumped on Earth like trash, because of something I can’t remember doing.”

I sat closer to Jack. He needed to hear this.

“The Doctor’s learning to trust me. I’m not the easiest person to trust, I mean I have a secret weapon stash in my bag.” I snorted. “There’s a lot about me that I don’t talk about. He still keeps me around. He’ll learn to trust you too.”

Jack looked at me evenly. He believed me.

A timer went off behind me. I winced, as it had gone off right next to my ear.

Jack chuckled. “Okay, we’re good to go.” The Doctor and Rose’s heads popped up. I had actually completely forgotten they were here. “Crash site?”

 

==CON==

 

Sneaking into a military base in World War Two was war too easy. Really, getting into the hospital was harder! It was otherwise nice to have a man already on the inside.

Jack showed the four of us the bombsite.

“There it is.” Jack stated. We came to a stop right before done supplies. He paused, staring at the posted guard. “Hey, they’ve got Algy on duty. It must be important.” He mused.

“We’ve got to get past him.” The Time Lord oh so wisely stated.

“Are the words distract the guard heading in my general direction?” Rose concluded, in a voice saying she was actually looking forward to it.

Jack and I chuckled. “I don’t think that’d be such a good idea.” Jack let her down gently.

“Don’t worry I can handle it.” Rose assured. She’d done it before. It was impressive, how fast the Doctor got jealous when she did.

“I’ve got to know Algy quite well since I’ve been in town. Trust me, you’re not his type.” Jack preened. “I’ll distract him.” He winked at me. “Don’t wait up.”

I winked back. “I’m patient.”

The Captain took my word for it. He walked confidently over to the stationed guard.

As Carolina’s confused look, I looked at her with a straight face (somehow). “He’s from the fifty first century. They’re more...flexible...on dancing than your time is.”

Carolina gawked.  _ That’s right. You flirted with a man that’ll screw anything with a pulse.  _ “How flexible?”

“Well, by his time, you lot have spread out across half the galaxy.” The Doctor tried not to outright say Jack was a man whore.

“Meaning?” His companion pressed.

“So many species, so little time.” The Doctor hinted.

Rose looked at him with wide eyes.

“What, that’s what we do when we get out there?” She asked, becoming giddy. “That’s our mission? We seek new life, and, and-”

“ _ Dance _ .”

“Careful, Magoo, I’d think _ you _ were flirting with him.” I teased, feeling just a bit vindictive.

He threw me a less than pleased look. “Oh I wouldn’t want to get between the two of you.”

“He’s not my type.” I replied, matter of factly. I kept a watchful eye on the ex-Time Agent.

“You’ve...got a type?” Rose asked. She was hesitant, more so than earlier. 

The way she said it rubbed me the wrong way. “Yeah. I do.” I snapped, defense.

She backtracked. “No! I just meant, you.” She nervously glanced back to the Doctor, before turning to me. “You don’t talk about that stuff.”

“Maybe I don’t like talking about it.” I stated.

More would’ve been said, but Algy fell to his knees in pain. 

“Fall back!” I shouted, running to defend Jack.

The ex-Time Agent was staring at his comrade in shock. Right when I gripped his wrist tight, pulling him away just as Algy’s mouth opened wide. It cracked and popped with sickening noises. It was worse than when Constantine changed, because at least then I had more distant than two feet.

“You men, stay away!” Jack warned the approaching soldiers.

Algy slumped to the ground. I dragged Jack away a couple steps, just as the other two in our group came up. 

“The effect’s become air-borne, accelerating.” The Doctor warned.

“Hate when they do that.” I sighed. My sigh began in time with the sirens.

“What’s keeping us safe?” Rose asked us.

“Nothing.” The Doctor and I answered.

Jack looked up at the sky, having just heard the sirens apparently. “Ah, here they come again.”

“All we need.” Rose snarked. She paled, turning to Jack. “Didn’t you say a bomb was going to land  _ here _ ?”

“It won’t kill us.” I assured.

“How do you know?” Jack asked, starting to panic with Rose.

“Because it’s airborne, there’s only hours left.” I informed plainly.

“Until  _ what _ ?”

“Till nothing, forever. For the entire human race.” The drama queen finished. “And can anyone else hear singing?”

Everyone was quiet, as we focused on Nancy’s singing.  _ “Rock-a-bye baby, on the tree tops. When the wind blows, the cradle will rock. When the bough breaks, the cradle will fall. Down will come baby, cradle and all.” _

We walked into the tent, seeing Nancy handcuffed to a table. There was another gasmasked soldier beside her, passed out on the table. She was reaching for the keys to unlock her handcuffs.

Nancy looked at us pleading. I looked to the Doctor, motioning to the sonic. He nodded, silently asking Nancy to keep singing. She put on her brave face and got to it.

_ “Rock-a-bye baby, on the tree tops. When the wind blows the cradle will rock.” _

Jack and Rose came in just as Nancy was freed. I filed the singing thing away for later.

 

==CON==

 

After some brief introductions, the five of us went to the ambulance. It looked like space junk at first glance, Jack must’ve cleaned off any medical stamps or the like. (More)

“You see? Just an ambulance.” Jack informed the Time Lords.

“That’s an ambulance?” Nancy gaped, standing on the sides with Carolina.

“It’s from the future.” I assured her. Nancy looked at me incredulously. “And from another planet.” I added, as if it would help assure her that she wasn’t crazy.

“They’ve been trying to get in.” Jack remarked, pointing at the scratch marks around the keypad.

“Of course they have. They think they’ve got their hands on Hitler’s latest secret weapon.” The Doctor realized. Jack began typing on a small keypad. “What’re you doing?”

“The sooner you see this thing is empty, the sooner you’ll know I had nothing to do with it.” Jack

“I wouldn’t do-”

***ZAP* *BEEP* *BEEP***

“-that.”

“Didn’t happen last time.” The ex-Time Agent commented.

“It crashed, you dingbat!” I whacked his head. He cried out, rubbing at the spot where I hit him. “It’s got emergency protocols, like  _ any _ spacecraft!”

“Doctor, Terra, what is that?” Rose spoke up for the first time since we got here.

The three of us looked down at the blinking light. I was about to answer when the nearby soldiers turned zombies pounded on the gates.

“Doctor, Terra!” Rose shouted.

“Captain, secure those gates!” The Doctor ordered.

“Why?”

“Just do it!” The Doctor barked. “Nancy, how’d you get in here?”

Nancy hesitated, unsure about answering him. “I cut the wire.”

“Show Rose.” The Doctor ordered. He pulled out the sonic, tossing it to Rose. “Setting two thousand four hundred and twenty eight D.”

“What?” Rose

“Reattaches barbed wire. Go!” The Doctor turned to me. “Terra, stay with me. Try to turn off the alarm.”

“Working on it!” I tried to type out the cancellation code. It wasn’t like I could cause anymore damage. 

 

==CON==

 

None of the codes I was typing were working. I had a suspicious that they wouldn’t, but it still annoyed me. That  _ stupid  _ alarm was getting on my nerves.

The ex-Time Agent came back over. He pulled open a hatch, showing off the empty ambulance. “It’s empty. Look at it.”

“Yes that you for your input.” I snarked, slamming the hatch closed. “What did you  _ think _ was in it?” The Doctor opened his mouth, to shout more at Jack. “No. Don’t talk, I don’t want to kill you today.” The Time Lord wisely backed off. “Carolina?”

“I don’t know.” Rose replied, lost.

I looked meaningfully at her hands.

She got the hint. “Nanogenes!”

“Of  _ course  _ it wasn’t empty. It was full of nanogenes. Based on the size of the ambulance, there was enough to  _ rebuild a species.” _

Jack paled. “Oh, God.”

“Yeah. Now you see.” I shouted.  _ ‘Because he had NO IDEA it would do THIS _ !’ “The ship crashes, the nanogenes escape. Billions upon billions of them, ready to fix all the cuts and bruises in the whole world. But what they find first is a  _ dead child, _ killed earlier that night, and wearing a gasmask.”

“And they brought him back to life? They can do that?” Rose asked.

The Doctor shrugged, though not as harshly as he had been all night. “What’s life? Life’s easy. A quirk of matter. Nature’s way of keeping meat fresh. Nothing to a nanogene.” The Doctor ranted. I let him vent it all out. “One problem, though. These nanogenes, they’re not like the ones on your ship. This lot have never seen a human being before. Don’t know what a human being’s supposed to look like. All they’ve got to go on is one little body, and there’s not a lot left. But they carry right on. They do what they’re programmed to do. They patch it up. Can’t tell what’s gasmask and what’s skull, but they do their best. Then off they fly, off they go, work to be done. Because, you see, now they think they know what people should look like, and it’s time to fix all the rest. And they won’t ever stop. They won’t ever, ever stop. The entire human race is going to be torn down and rebuilt in the form of one terrified child looking for its mother, and nothing in the world can stop it!”

“I didn’t know.” Jack shouted.

The Doctor didn’t respond to him. No one did. My fellow Time Lord turned to me, silently asking to be let back in my mind. I allowed it.

_ ‘You were right.’ _ The Doctor admitted, going over to work on the ambulance.

I was silent.

_ ‘He really didn’t know.’ _ The Doctor went on.  _ ‘But now it’s too late _ .’

I looked up at him. _ ‘You sure?’ _

_ ‘Maybe we could set up a systematic reset, but that’s gonna take time we don’t have.’ _ The Doctor sighed. He clapped his hand on the side of the ambulance.

_ ‘Would a self destruct help any?’ _ I asked.

_ ‘That’ll only destroy this thing, it won’t stop them from coming. The signal’s already out.’ _ The Doctor explained.

_ ‘We’ll come up with something. We always do.’ _ I reassured.

My friend smirked.  _ ‘You were right last time. I know better than to doubt you twice.’ _

“Rose!” Nancy cried out.

I didn’t even need to turn my head. The sounds of  _ ‘Mummy’ _ were echoing off everything. His companion ran up to the ambulance, looking at the still blinking red light.

“It’s bringing the gas mask people here, isn’t it?” Rose asked. She didn’t need confirmation, she already knew she was right.

“The ship thinks it’s under attack.” The Doctor explained. “It’s calling up the troops. Standard protocol.”

“But the gas mask people aren’t troops.” She argued.

“They are now.” He countered. “This is a battle-field ambulance. The nanogenes don’t just fix you up, they get you ready for the front line. Equip you, programme you.”

“Which explains the super strength, and the Om-Com.” I sighed. My hands ran through my hair, then fixing my headband. “Chula nanogenes are fully equipped to prepare them for war.” I looked over at Jack. “And all of those people are being controlled by a crying four year old looking for her mom. He turned them into an army.”

As I spoke, we were surrounded by all the gas-masked zombies from the hospital and surrounding areas. The four of us stood up. The hairs on my neck was standing up, ready for a fight.

“Why don’t they attack?” Jack asked.

“Good little soldiers, waiting for their commander.” The Doctor answered.

Jack looked to the zombies in confusion. “The child?”

“Jamie.” Nancy corrected.

“What?” Jack asked.

“Not  _ ‘the child _ ’.” Her eyes were watering with unshed tears. “Jamie.”

“So how long until the bomb falls?” Rose was starting to panic.

“Any second.” Jack answered. The panic was spreading it seemed.

“What’s the matter, Captain? A bit close to the volcano for you?” He snarked.

_ ‘Doctor.’ _ I warned.

_ ‘He didn’t do it on purpose, but that doesn’t make him innocent in all of this. _ ’

“He’s just a little boy.” Nancy whimpered.

The Doctor looked at her sadly. “I know.”

Nancy sniffled. “He’s just a little boy who wants his mummy.”

“I know. There isn’t a little boy born who wouldn’t tear the world apart to save his mummy.” The Doctor explained. “And this little boy can.”

Rose glanced between the Doctor and I. “So what’re we going to do?”

The Doctor stared at her, sadly. “I don’t know.”

“Terra?” Rose asked.

I turned to her. Rose was looking at me pleadingly. “You have something, right?”

Yes. I did. The Doctor would in a few seconds. It was all gonna click in his head and then we’d be in the clear. This was his biggest victory, I couldn’t take it from him.

“You said you were in the FBI.” Rose went on. She was getting more panicked the longer we went without the bomb. “Can’t you use something from there to fix all of this? Do that profiling thing?”

“What would you do?” The Doctor asked. The question surprised me, as I didn’t think he wanted to ask me. He must have noticed my hesitation. “How does Terra Johnson save the world?”

There was a rock in my throat. It would be easy to do, totally easy. This would all be done on five minutes if I did it the Terra way. This was the Doctor’s victory, not mine. This was the day nobody died. How could I take that from the Doctor?

“I can’t do it!” I argued, panicking.

The Doctor walked up to me, keeping eye contact. “Terra, I trust you.” Magoo promised. “Trust yourself, please.”

_ I can’t do that either _ .

But the Doctor was counting on me now. He wanted my help. He was  _ begging  _ for it.

Nancy whimpered. “It’s my fault.”

I rounded over to her. “How old are you?” I asked, forcefully. Nancy winced. “Twenty? Twenty one? Older than you look, yes?”

“Mummy. Mummy. Mummy. Mummy.” The patients chanted.

“Terra, that bomb.” Buttface reminded me. “We’ve got seconds.”

“You can teleport us out.” Rose suggested.

Jack shook his head. “Not you guys. The nav-com’s back online. Going to take too long to override the protocols.” He explained.

“Volcano day.” The Doctor hinted. Jack’s face steeled as he knew the only way to stop it. “Do what you’ve got to. We’re busy.”

Jack turned to me, goodbye in his eyes. I sent him a reassuring smirk.

Rose didn’t understand. “Jack?”

He was already gone.

I braced myself. “You’re his mother, aren’t you?” I started to put it together the profiler way. “That was why you started taking care of those kids. Not because you lost a brother, because you lost a son. You were trying to push away that guilt because he died not knowing.”

Nancy looked at me, surprised. “How did you-”

“You two were wandering around long before this. No mother would leave her children alone like that unless she were dead, but Jamie is still looking for her. You wince every time he asks for his mother. He follows  _ you _ , calling for  _ you _ , and that’s why you run. If he knew it was you, you wouldn’t react that way. He died thinking you were his sister, and you’ve been running from him because of how you think he’ll react to finding out your his mom.”

The gates opened wide for the commander. His expression was hidden by the mask. “Are you my mummy?” He asked. His tone blank, automatic now.

“He’s going to keep asking, Nancy. He’s never going to stop.” I explained. My words came out as a plea and a demand. “He’ll tear the world apart looking for you. A son would tear the world apart for his mom.”

Jamie’s attention peaked at my word. “Mummy?”

“You’re only hurting him more by keeping this secret.” I finished. “Tell him. Nancy, the future of the human race is in your hands. Trust me and  _ tell him _ .”

Nancy stared at me for a long time. She broke when she looked back to Jamie. The mother walked towards her son, 

Jamie “Are you my mummy? Are you my mummy? Are you my mummy?”

Nancy hesitated. “Yes. Yes, I am your mummy.”

“Mummy?”

“I’m here.”

“Are you my mummy?”

“I’m _ here. _ ”

“Are you my mummy?”

“ _ Yes _ .”

“Are you my mummy?”

“He doesn’t understand.” He sighed in dejection. “There’s not enough of him left.”

“Give them a minute.” I beamed, grinning. “Just give them a minute.”

“I _ am  _ your mummy. I will _ always _ be your mummy.” Nancy explained. She was crying now, but being strong for Jamie. “I’m so sorry. I am so, so sorry.” She hugged her son, and golden lights covered them both.

The Doctor stared wide eyed. My hands were shaking in glee.

“What’s happening?” His companion asked. “Terra, Doctor, it’s changing her, we should-”

“Shush!” We both scolded her. 

“Come on, please.” He begged. “Come on, you clever little nanogenes. Figure it out!” He was so giddy. “The mother, she’s the mother. It’s got to be enough information.” The Doctor was panting. “Figure it out.” He pleaded.

Rose turned to me. “What’s happening?”

The nanogenes were focusing on Jamie. I excitedly ran up to the mother-son, just as Jamie let his mother go. The Doctor explained the DNA thing to Rose, while I just knelt by the boy.

“Oh, come on. Give me a day like this. Give me this one.” The Doctor spoke under his breath.

I pulled off Jamie’s mask, revealing the  _ cutest  _ four year old boy. He was definitely related to Nancy, they had the same cheeks and eyes.

The boy smiled at me. I smiled back, starting to laugh. He was lifted into a sudden hug by the Doctor.

“Ha-ha! Welcome back!” The Doctor beamed. “Twenty years till pop music-you’re going to love it!” He explained, setting Jamie down.

His mother came up from the dirt. “What happened?” Nancy asked, in shock at seeing her son back.

“The nanogenes recognized the superior information, the parent DNA. They didn’t change  _ you _ because  _ you _ changed  _ them _ !” The Doctor pulled me up in a hug. I let out a squeak of surprise. “Ha-ha! Mother knows best!”

“Oh, Jamie.” Nancy sighed happily. She pulled her son into another hug.

There was an explosion some hundred feet away. The rest of us jumped back.

“Doctor, Terra, that bomb.” Oh Carolina, such a worrywart today. And that’s coming from ME!

The Doctor and I exchanged a look. “Taken care of it.”

“How?” Rose asked, hesitantly.

My smile faltered. “Psychology.”

Right on cue, the bomb was caught in Jack’s tractor beam. I snorted at him. Such a drama queen. There was some more flashing, and I saw Jack on top of the bomb. Any thoughts about his libido were ignored.

“TJ!” Jack cheered.

“That’s my boy!” I laughed.

The Doctor laughed with me. “Good lad!”

“The bomb’s already commenced detonation.” Jack explained. I felt my hearts skip a few crucial beats. “I’ve put it in stasis but it won’t last long.”

“Change of plan. Don’t need the bomb.” The Doctor asked. He had felt my bit of panic. “Can you get rid of it, safely as you can?”

Jack didn’t outright answer. He looked to me, locking our eyes. “TJ?”

“I want you home by midnight.” I warned him, trying hard not to cry.

Jack grinned. “I’ll do what I can.”

“You better!” If anyone saw tears on my cheeks, they must’ve been mistaken.

He vanished, coming back a second later. “By the way, Rose, love the t-shirt.” He disappeared with the bomb. His ship flew off, presumably to find the safe distance but I knew it wouldn’t.

Rose beamed. Someone at least liked her shirt.

The Doctor walked off from the group, I followed after him. These were the ones that had changed Jamie, the ones that would fix everyone else. All they need is a bit of direction. Our hands started to glow golden.

“What are you doing?” Rose asked us.

“Software patch.” The Time Lord explained. The two of us exchanged a smile. “We’re going to email the upgrade.”

I chuckled, gathering up as much of the nanogenes in my hand as I could. 

“You want moves, Rose? I’ll give you moves.” The Doctor beamed before throwing the nanogenes at the patients. I followed suit. All the people fell the ground as soon as they were hit. “Everybody lives, Rose. Just this once, everybody lives!”

I cheered loudly as one by one their gas masks disappeared.

When Doctor Constantine stood up, the Doctor and I excitedly ran over to his now cured self.

“Doctor Constantine. Who never left his patients.” The Doctor complimented. “Back on your feet, constant doctor.”

“The world still needs you.” I added. “It wasn’t ready to let go, and I wholly agree.” We motioned to the confused people milling about. “These are your patients. All better now.”

“Yes, yes, so it seems.” The doctor glanced around, only seeming more confused by what he was seeing. “They also seem to be standing around in a disused railway station. Is there any particular reason for that?”

“The British government, man. They do crazy stuff in war times.” I lied smoothly.

“Listen, whatever was wrong with them in the past, you’re probably going to find that they’re cured.” The Doctor cut in. “Just tell them what a great doctor you are. Don’t make a big thing of it. Okay?”

Neither of us gave the doctor a chance to talk back. We made our way back to the ambulance. The Doctor climbed on top of the thing, while I geared up the self destruct sequence.

“Right, you lot. Lots to do!” He shouted, catching the attention of everyone. “Beat the Germans, save the world. Don’t forget the welfare state!”

“Terra, what’re ya doing?” Rose asked, coming up to my side.

“History says a bomb went off oh, right about here.” I mused. “Conveniently after everyone’s a safe distance away.”

“And who are we to argue with history?” The Doctor added.

“Usually the first ones in line.” Rose teased

“Hey!” We both cried out.

 

==CON==

 

It had taken a while for us to make it to the TARDIS. The Doctor’s joy hadn’t gone down at all.

“The nanogenes will clean up the mess and switch themselves off, because I just told them to.” Magoo happily explained.

His joy was infectious. Carolina was giggling like a schoolgirl.

My mind kept going back to Jack.

“Nancy and Jamie will go to Doctor Constantine for help, ditto.” The Doctor nodded. “All in all, all things considered, fantastic!”

“Look at you, beaming away like you’re Father Christmas.” Rose teased. 

The Doctor snorted gleefully. “Who says I’m not, red bicycle when you were twelve?”

Rose stopped. “What?”

“Hey! I got her those black roller blades.” I defended. It had been after we got rid of Door-In-The-Head. Rose had been asleep, and the Doctor was trying to be sneaky about dropping off the bike. I came up, throwing in my (way cooler) gift.

Rose’s jaw dropped.

The Doctor smiled on. “And everybody lives, ladies! Everybody lives! I need more days like this.”

“Doctor.” His companion asked softly.

“Go on, ask me anything.” He laughed. “I’m on fire.”

“What about Jack? Why’d he say goodbye?” Rose asked.

The Doctor didn’t say anything.

So I did.

“I want him as my companion.” I admitted to the Doctor. He looked at me with curiosity. “Hear me out. I’ll accept blame for anything he does, honest.”

“You think you can handle that?” The Doctor challenged.

“Remember my  _ friend that isn’t a friend _ ? Female version of that.” I acknowledged. “Not even kidding. Or downplaying.”

Rose laughed. “I’d like to meet her.”

“No you don’t.” I argued plainly with her before going back to Magoo. “Anyway. Can I keep Buttface?”

The Doctor went to pull on the handbrake, before looking up at me in uncertainty.  _ ‘Are you sure, Terra?’ _

I sent him a mental wave of assurance.  _ ‘Yes.’ _

 

==CON==

 

The TARDIS landed in Jack’s ship. The Doctor actually managed to set it to silent. It was inflight that Rose pointed out that the Doctor never  _ did _ show her his moves. She set up the radio to play, and as soon as the Doctor landed she took his hand to dance.

I popped the door open, smirking as he hadn’t yet noticed us. “You know, most people notice a big blue box landing in their ship.” I teased.

Jack’s head shot up. My new companion turned to me, a grin forming on his face. 

“You wanna come in?” I called out. “There’s a bit of a rush.”

He ran in, staring at the sexy thing that was Idris’s console room. I nodded, a knowing smile on my face.

Rose was busy dancing with her partner. In a completely nonsexual (disappointing to both parties) sort of way. “Okay. And right and turn.” Rose instructed.

The Doctor tried, bless his hearts. (As someone from the south, I learned you can say whatever you want as long as you add  _ bless their heart _ )

“Okay, okay, try and spin me again, but this time don’t get my arm up my back. No extra points for a half-nelson.”

Jack and I exchanged smirks. Those two were so cute when they were in denial.

“I’m sure I used to know this stuff.” He mumbled to her. The Doctor glanced up to Jack, giving him an amused withering look. “Close the door, will you? Your ship’s about to blow up. There’s going to be a draught.”

He quickly shut the door. The Doctor pulled down the hand brake, sending us off just before the explosion.

“Welcome to the TARDIS!” I decreed.

Jack nodded in appreciation. “ _ Much _ bigger on the inside.”

“You’d better be.” The Doctor teased.

Rose giggled. “I think what the Doctor’s trying to say is ‘ _ you may cut in’ _ .”

Jack looked to me, silently asking if they were always like this. I gave him a small nod. 

“Rose! Terra!” The Doctor shouted in joy. “I’ve just remembered!”

“What?”

The music changed to more upbeat tunes. I smirked up at the ceiling. Idris sent a hum which translated to  _ ‘I have no idea why it changed either! How shocking’ _ which I did not believe. You guys think Nine is sarcastic, you should head the stuff the TARDIS thinks!

“I can dance!” The Oncoming STORM sounded less like the Dalek predator and more like a cartoon mouse. “I can dance!”

“Actually, Doctor, I thought Jack might like this dance.” Rose fluttered her eyelashes.

“Oh yeah. Definitely. Without a doubt.” I went along. “But who with?” I suggested, dancing around the console with the music.

Jack took hold of my hand. I turned to him in surprise. “Come on. Let’s show those two how to do it.”

“Story  _ damn _ . Now it’s a contest.” My free hand grabbed Jack’s, immediately setting us up to dance with the music. “I’m competitive.”

Jack smirked knowingly. “Never would’ve guessed.”

Sure enough, the four of us danced in the console room.

“Hey Buttface.” I tried to start up a sort of serious conversation. It was really heard with Glen Miller on in the background.

“Hey TJ.” Jack teased, giving me a quick spin in time with the music.

“There’s a Time Lord tradition.” I explained, working hard not to giggle. “At least in the TARDIS. Rose is the Doctor’s companion. Since I claimed ownership of the TARDIS-”

“No she didn’t!”

“Oi! Don’t ruin her story!”

I rolled my eyes at those two. “I get a companion. You’re perfect for the role.”

“Your her first.” Rose teased as the Doctor spun her around.

“Fourth, actually.” I corrected. The others looked at me in surprise. “He’s not the only guy that gets off showing people the universe.”

The Doctor looked a bit flustered at my statement, much to Rose’s amusement.

Though I wouldn’t show it, I was missing all the other people I’d trusted in my lifetime. Half of my companions are dead, because of me. My first faces too. What would it hurt to have the man who could never die?

Jack grinned. “No chance I’m missing this.” My companion took my hand, swinging me around to the music again.

“Terrific!” I cheered. Then I got about to making sure I beat those two at the impromptu dance off.


	15. The Secret Sister

Instead of walking into the console room, I was dancing to music playing in my head.

It had been two months since Jack joined the TARDIS crew.

The Doctor had dropped Jack and I off in modern day England to help a Neanderthal adjust to modern society. I don’t mean Neanderthal like in the insult, I mean an actual Neanderthal from the prehistoric times. His name was Das, married a nice girl named Anna-Marie. It had been one of the more trying months of my life, but I was happy to give Magoo and Carolina time alone.

Besides, it added a fun thing to my resume.  _ Assimilated a Neanderthal to the twenty-first century. Taught him about driving a car and that apple pie was not a rare gift from the gods. _ In addition, the all important lesson of:  _ no dating Jackie Tyler. _ That had been a near miss, since she nearly caught sight of me dragging Das out of the club. Then, there was the fact that  _ I was not a goddess _ . What? A girl has a little more intelligence than the modern day humans, and suddenly I must have god-like powers?

Though Jack was having less fun with it as the month drew to a close. A real adrenaline junkie, my companion. Course, he’d done crazy stuff to even  _ get _ us to Das. If my sister ever found out Jack was naked, she might die from the thought of missing it. I had managed to keep my head on straight in that month, though only because of regular talks with my sister. There was some mingled Planning in there, took a lot of the edge off. I also did my math homework from Home, Dad would kill me if I forgot another math lesson.

Luckily, the Doctor picked us up after a month. Jack and I asked to see Das’ wedding, especially since Jack was the best man...after I explained what a best man was to Das. Anna-Marie actually brought up  _ flower girls _ and I was momentarily worried for Rose’s safety.

But as of today, everything was worth it!

I’d timed it perfectly. The whole TARDIS crew was together. I couldn’t fight my smile, and it seemed way too cheery to be mine. My friends agreed.

“Hey guys!” I cheered, skipping along to the console with the music I was humming. “How’re things?” I braced myself on the handles, leaning forward to look up at Idris’ rotor.

There was a bit of silence from the others. “Are you alright?” The Doctor spoke up.

“Why? Is it like I did a complete  _ 180 _ !” I joked. Come on, I think on a birthday you’re allowed to make puns! “Wow. Okay, wow. I am  _ not _ getting enough appreciation for that.”

The three exchanged a look. There was a silent conversation, deciding which of them would step up. The past free days, I’d been a bit more cheery than before. It would probably be Jack. The Doctor and I were a bit at odds right now.

He wanted me to get rid of my weapons. He thinks weapons are a danger to everyone. Having them around set themselves on edge. He didn’t like so many weapons in one place, knowing that.

I refused. I knew fully well that they were not toys, that they could kill or wound as I saw fit. Besides, most were parts of my job and if I lost them, returned to work without, it’d be a nightmare! Moreover, I couldn’t risk my friends’ lives.

The argument was pushed out of my mind. I had  _ bigger  _ things to do today.

To my surprise, it was arose that stepped. “So, Terra. You’ve been in a...good mood.”

“About time you lot noticed. I’ve only been like this  _ all week _ .” It was true. I felt a giggle bubbling in my throat. My birthday never failed to cheer me up! “I know I told you three what was coming.”

Jack thought over it. After a moment, he started to grin. “It’s  _ today?” _ I nodded, happily. The ex-conman pulled me in for a hug. “Then let me be the first to say  _ HAPPY BIRTHDAY!” _

Carolina gasped. Jack let go of me, so I could see their happy faces. “It’s your what?” Magoo asked.

“It’s my birthday!” I replied, dancing around the console. “One hundred eighty years of  _ me! _ ”

“You’re sure?” Jack asked, blue eyes glinting with mirth. “How can you keep track of time in here?”

“Please don’t kill my buzz. I worked all week to get on this level.” I motioned to myself. My smile hadn’t faded.

The Doctor stopped looking so surprised. He grinned at me, giving me a happy nod. “Happy birthday, Terra.”

“Oh Story.” I let my jaw fall into a melodramatic look of shock. “Did he just  _ grin _ ? Him? The grinch of the TARDIS  _ grinning _ ?”

He rolled his eyes, though his happy familiar smirk betrayed him. He flicked switches on the console to change focus from himself. “I’ll let that slide since it’s your birthday.”

“I’m fine without a big party.” I assured all three of them. “Really. I wouldn’t say no to just kicking around in the TARDIS. She’s got a bowling rink!”

Jack shook his head. “Not a chance, TJ. You are going to have the best party ever. I’ve even convinced Doc here to help.”

“And I convinced Jack to let  _ me _ get your gift.” Rose chirped. She gave me a tongue-on-tooth smirk.

“The Captain had promised it’ll be the best birthday ever.” The Doctor recounted, in  _ obvious _ sarcasm.

“Well, last year I spent in fighting in the Civil War, the year before I was in a bug’s house, and the year before that I was fighting a Soviet scientist that used electronic whips to try and kill me.” I mused. Rose gaped, while the men laughed. “So today better be  _ good _ .”

Jack bumped my shoulder. “If those were the birthdays, I shudder to think about what you did the rest of the year.”

“No strippers!” I added. I’d been in  _ How I Met Your Mother _ , and Barney has different way of celebrating my birthdays. Ever since, I’d made a point of keeping men in thongs away from my birthday parties. “At all. I  _ mean it,  _ Jack!”

The twenty-first century man only smiled at me.

How was I to know that the biggest stripper I knew wanted to crash the party?

 

==CON==

 

Carolina Rose convinced me to change outfits.

The one we agreed one wasn’t purple, wasn’t a dress, and wasn’t sparkly enough to attract ships from outer space. It was a black shirt with long sheer sleeves, a pair of dark purple jeans, and black mary janes. I managed to keep my necklace with the lollipop charm and the TARDIS key.

It looked a lot like my usual outfits, except Rose promised I looked like a model in this. She  _ said _ it showed off ‘the curves I had been hiding’, or something.

Apparently this added as my gift to them: dressing outside my usual hoodie.

Jack’s first step was complete.

The second was the location. Even the Doctor had to admit Jack found a half decent place for our celebration.

It was an outer space bar, in the year 3860, called  _ Moonshine _ .

“You’re taking me to a bar in the future for my birthday?” I laughed.

“Yep.” Jack agreed in a matter-of-fact voice. “And I picked the perfect year. Moonshine was at it’s prime. The best music, best drinks.” His smirked widened. “Best looking people.”

Rose laughed. “Jack, you think everyone is the best looking.”

He shrugged, staring at us innocently. “Doesn’t mean I’m wrong.”

Rose and I laughed at his antics.

“How did you hear about this place?” The Doctor asked him. “It’s not exactly well known, even in it’s own time.”

He had set the TARDIS on course. It wasn’t always a quick trip. Sometimes they took  _ time  _ (whether or not that he meant that to be a pun, I don’t think we’ll ever know).

“Back in my days as a Time Agent, they sent me all over the place for missions. Once it was accomplished, I would ask the locals what was the best place to party. When I was figuring out where to go tonight,  _ Moonshine _ was the only way to go.”

It wouldn’t surprise me if he brought John Hart here when they worked together.

“I remember how happy you were in that bar in London with Das.” Jack recalled. “Pretty much dragged you out.”

“Terra likes bars?” Carolina asked. She turned to me, watched me for a moment, then shrugged. “Not surprising.”

“Don’t look at me all innocent like.” I chided. “I bet you like them too. Drinking age in England is 18.”

“And in  _ Moonshine _ , they’re less strict.” Jack mentioned. I stared at him in surprise. “If you say you’re a  _ one hundred and eighty  _ year old, they’ll believe you.”

My hearts sang in joy. I  _ did _ enjoy the nightclub, except for everyone treating me like the teenager I looked like. Tonight I could get a buzz going!

“Then let’s  _ party _ !”

 

==CON==

 

Different species of aliens fluttered about the large bar, some I recognized from future episodes and some from  _ Old Who _ . Some were new to me. Some were clearly  _ human-ish _ . There was a clear area for dancing, with party lasers dancing about. There was a DJ that looked like a purple human with an elephant trunk. It was nice to get a look at the universe beyond what the screen showed.

They had high tables close to the dance floor. In the back of the large club there were smaller tables, and booths. Those were more fitting for our foursome. In the direct middle of the place was a large drink station, with three bartenders of various genders and species.

It has been three hours since then.

Jack was lost in the dancing crowd on the other side of  _ Moonshine _ . I had given the go ahead to find a booty call. Just because it was my birthday didn’t mean I should be the only one to have fun.

The Doctor was acting as Buttface’s babysitter. It was either that, or have shots of  _ future space whiskey _ with Carolina and I.

Looking back, I should’ve seen them setting me up. It was too suspicious. It was all just  _ too clever _ . Jack and the Doctor leaving us alone? Us? The woman who was locked in a room with an exploding sun her first trip, and the Time Lady that bonded with a Dalek?

“So  _ then _ , Barney got this idea to send a stripper to the party.” I explained, laughing into my glass. “But he got it in his head I was gay-or at least bi- because I kept turning him down. So the stripper is  _ female _ and  _ showing it off _ -”

“Whoa hold on. Are you?” Carolina asked, speaking over me.

“-which was a shame caused I liked that cake.” My bottom lip stuck out in a pout. My already light buzz made me take a minute to understand Rose asked me something. “Am I what?”

“Gay.” She asked bluntly. Drunk Rose is blunt, everyone, be warned! I felt my eyes go wide. She wanted to talk about that  _ here _ ? Now?

“Somewhere in the middle...I think.” I managed to say. “I don’t like talking about this.”

“Relax, the Doctor and Jack can’t hear.” Rose assured, as if that was my only problem.

It shouldn’t have reassured me. How many people have said that to me, and they turned out to be right behind me. Rose’s sincere smile convinced me.

That and the five shots of space whiskey. Turns out even Time Ladies get tipsy after that.

“I...like...both?” The words felt clunky, like someone cutting open an old rusty padlock. “I’m trashed, aren’t I? I have a  _ rule  _ about getting drunk  _ for this reason. _ ” Of course, I said this while reaching for shot number six. “Terrific. Next I’m gonna tell you about the geek I’m in love with.”

Rose snorted, nearly choking on her drink. “ _ You what _ ?” She coughed. She was fighting a smile from the look of it.

“Me, drunkenly admitting I love a geek.” I smiled nervously. I downed the next shot, loving the burn in my throat. “Sorry. Is something wrong with that?”

“No! God no. Just...thought you’d be more into...jocks, and the tough guys.” Rose excused. It was a poor one. It did make me feel a bit better. She even made a ‘tough guy’ face, and some grunts.

It made me laugh. That loosened my tongue. “No, I’m pretty sure he’s a geek. I like geeky types. Cause they’d understand all the movies I’d take them too, or the TV shows I watch, and it would take a month out of the relationship to get them caught up on everything. It’s a deal breaker if they haven’t seen a Marvel movie. DC ones, I can let slide. But Marvel? Not happening.” My cheeks went red. It made Rose giggle. “Promise you won’t tell?”

“Cross my heart!” Rose cheered. Too be honest, I thought I saw a spark of relief in her honey brown eyes. “No one’s gonna hear it from me. Who is he, though?”

“...I already said too much-”

“No no! Don’t leave me hangin’!” The blonde excitedly tapped my arm. “Tell me about this mystery bloke!”

I grinned at her childishness. “He has long brown hair.” I mused, reminiscing on him. “I always wanted to see if it was as soft as it looked. These cute little puppy dog eyes, Storyline I’ve been staring in his eyes for ages.” A small giggle came out, just thinking about him.

It’s been a decade since I’ve been around Doctor Spencer Reid. Our last case was a human trafficking ring. It was such an exhausting case I can’t even remember my last words to him. It was a simple ‘see you tomorrow’.

Of course, that tomorrow hadn’t happened. I went Home that night for some R&R, from all of it. As far as Doctor Reid knew, I was at home sleeping away the hard day.

I’d seen him loads of times since then, on TV. He still looked gorgeous. I’ve never thought differently of him, ever.

“He rambled if you gave him time.” I recalled. “He’d spout off all these random facts that we wouldn’t know unless we looked at a travel pamphlet. He was bad with technology, he hated getting a cellphone for work. I don’t even think he’s used a laptop.”

It’d been funny at the time, his desk being the only one without a computer. Reid just preferred it old fashioned. I felt close to him now, like he was behind me giving me random facts about the bar and the planet and whatever else Reid had in his head. That could be because  _ Doctor Who _ is one of his favorite shows.

_ I miss talking with him. _ I thought.  _ I love seeing him on TV, but it’s never real. He doesn’t talk about the same things. Old wound still burn in his heart, and it makes me want to be here for him. Then he’ll smile, no I know everything will be okay. _

Rose tsked beside me. “Shame.”

Her word brought me back to normal. “Huh?”

“The Doctor don’t look anything like that.” Rose commented, glancing in the direction of our table. There was a bit of  _ anger _ in her eyes.

I sputtered, nearly spilling the shot onto the table. “The-The fuck!?” Was all I could get my mouth to spurt out.

She stared at me. “What? It’s just weird, is all. I mean, you and the Doctor-”

“No! Nononono. There is no  _ ‘me and the Doctor _ ’! I don’t  _ want _ there to be any _ ‘me and the Doctor’!” Oh Storyline, Rose, you’re ruining my OTP!  _ An almost mad idea came to me, as I fought a smirk. What a better birthday present then getting them together? “He’s a great guy, but I don’t wanna date him!”

Her eyes widened. “What are you talking about? You two’ve been giving each other looks ever since-”

“Since he found out I was a Time Lady? Yeah, what a way to sweep me off my feet.” I broadened my shoulders, my set in a scowl as I tried to copy his North accent. “ _ ‘We’re the last of our kind. Wanna make another generation?’ _ ” I grimaced. It wasn’t a great impression, and the line had been weird to think about.

Rose blushed. “It’s...kinda silly when you say it like that.”

“We’ve been giving each other  _ looks _ because Time Lords can talk mentally. Do you have any idea how hard it is to give a  _ ‘the fuck you just say?’ _ face mentally?” I copied the expression, for emphasis. The action was blamed on the whiskey.

Rose just started laughing. Whether from my face, or realizing the Doctor was available. I hoped it was both.

“Yeah! It’s weird!” I went on. There was a  _ chance  _ at Nine!Rose, I wasn’t going to waste it. “Or a  _ ‘yeah I’m right. Better start getting used to it.’ _ That’s a favorite.”

“All this time, I thought you two were dating!” She admitted between chuckles.

I shook my head, having a bit more of my drink. “No! I’ve been trying to get  _ you two  _ together!”

“Me and him?” Rose asked, cheeks going pink.

“Yeah! All the looks  _ you  _ think he’s been giving _ me _ , are the looks  _ he’s _ been giving  _ you _ ! I mean, you two were talking about ‘ _ dancing _ ’ last month!”

“I was trying to make you jealous, cause it was driving me bonkers seeing the two of you not do anything even though you wanted to!”

“You need to retake driver’s ed, cause you misread every sign.” I informed, having another drink.

Rose laughed, loudly. “What was that?” She asked in between fits of laughter.

“I’m drunk. I can’t be super smart when I’m drunk.” I lied, feeling the urge to blush at my poor attempt at humor.

 

==CON==

 

Darcy’s text: Doing something cool. + dangerous. Need help.

Terra’s text: Sure. Let me drop everything and work on your problem.

Darcy’s text: That’s my girl ;)

Darcy’s text: But seriously come help.

Terra’s text: I can’t. I’m doing a thing.

Darcy’s text: But my parents aren’t home. Lol.

Terra’s text: That is because they are dead. You killed them. That joke doesn’t make sense.

Darcy’s text: It’s a meme. Storyline, Grandma, keep up. XD

Terra’s text: How long have you been topside?

Darcy’s text: 7 months.

Terra’s text: Seven? Holy shit

Darcy’s text: You?

Terra’s text: Four.

Darcy’s text: :O It’s your birthday?

Terra’s text: 180.

Darcy’s text: Sis! I’m offended! Where the fuck are you? We gotta party now! How long left in your bday?

Terra’s text: 15 hours.

Darcy’s text: Meh. I’ll make do. Where you at?

Terra’s text: Why should I tell you?

Darcy’s text: Because I’m your sister and you need me. ;P

Terra’s text: Storydammit. You’re right.

I texted her the space coordinates to  _ Moonshine _ . She would’ve found them on her own.

Darcy’s text: ROTFL! Sis, I’m in Moonshine rn!

Terra’s text: You’re joking

Darcy’s text: 3860.

Terra’s text: ...lucky guess

Darcy’s text: Nope! LOL So grab your big butt and get over to the backroom!

Darcy’s text: Oh + leave 9. He’s not supposed to meet me yet. ;)

Clapping my phone shut, I slid it back into my pocket. Carolina was off flirting with Magoo, hopefully. It would be nice if they got together by tonight.

After a quick glance to them, I climbed out of the booth to find my companion. He’d been in this club before. He would know where to find the back room.

“Buttface.” I cheered.

“Yes ma’am?” The flirt perked up.

“You’re right on time. We’re helping someone out of a tough spot. Come on.” I nodded my head towards the area behind the drink station.

Jack tilted his head curiously. He still followed me when I made my way. “It’s your birthday. Do you need to work on your birthday?”

“Usually no, but she insisted.” I commented, shifting through the growing crowd. Who know my birthday was such a popular party destination in the future? “Thought you be happy. You did say you wanted to meet my past companions.”

Jack’s eyes went wide in time with his smirk.

 

==CON==

 

The word ‘subtle’ has never been in my sister’s dictionary. Ever.

So, when I saw the woman waiting for us in the back room I knew it was her. Even though she looked  _ nothing  _ like my sister.

My sister was an odd disguise. Her hair was colored dark brown, though I could see the black in the roots. The hair was brushed to cover the scar on her forehead. Her outfit was all red; a cliche nightclub dress that barely went over her ass, heels with gray spikes on the heel, a handbag on a gold chain, large bengals on her wrist, long painted fingernails.

If I hadn’t known my sister wanted my help, then I wouldn’t have known it was her. Whoever dressed her up is too good at disguises.

She smirked when she saw me come in. Her teeth framed by overly slutty lipstick. Her smile shook when she saw Jack, and her cheeks turned a brighter pink.

For a moment, I thought my sister was flustered. It was a stupid theory. Nothing has ever made my sister flustered. My sister hadn’t been flustered around boys since she learned about  _ boys _ . Just...it was impossible to ignore the seconds she froze when she saw Jack. The slight hesitation as she walked to us.

“Is that her?” Jack asked. I hoped he didn’t notice Darcy’s hesitation.

“Darcy Anderson, in the flesh. What’s horrible is I  _ want _ to say she doesn’t always dress like that.”

Jack chuckled under his breath. “You said no strippers.”

“Which is probably why she dressed like that.  _ Terrific. _ ” I huffed. I held a hand up at him. “Give me a second to talk to her. She...won’t know you.”

Before he could reply, I walked up to my sister for a quick reunion.

“What have I told you about wearing heels?” I asked her in a conversational voice.

“Rule 14.  _ ‘Never wear heels. If you fall on your face running from something, I’m allowed to laugh at you’. _ It’s connected to rule 47:  _ ‘Never get drunk. Drunk people say too much’.” _

“And I did. Say too much. To the...the blonde one.” My less than sharp mind couldn’t, for the life of me, remember her name. It was a flower thing, right? “I told her about... _ fuck _ ...what the shit did I say? It was...something. Important. Some kind of ‘S’ word.”  _ ‘Serious? Suspenseful? Spense...spense...something with spense?’  _ “She’ll tell me about it later.”

Darcy’s grin brightened. “Can I keep you?”

The two of us exchanged smirks.

“Why did you bring  _ him? _ ” My sister asked. She was nervous now. It was such a bizarre color on her face.

The mere idea surprised me. “Are you  _ nervous  _ about meeting Jack Harkness?”

Darcy winced faintly at my blunt question. It had to be about that. Darcy Anderson was never scared of anything; except Buddhist Temples, talking to boys she had a crush on, and her mother having custody.

“I expected you to be excited at flirting with him.” I stated, adding a confused drunken frown.

The assassin just smiled bittersweetly. “I meet him already. In the Year.” She admitted in a low, damn near trembling voice.

I let her see my surprise. She had texted me that she had only been here seven months, so she hadn’t been in the Year That Never Was the whole time. What had she seen that year that could do  _ this  _ to her?

“No way. I called you, future you, she said she slept with him!” I argued.  _ ‘Why were all my OTP’s dying tonight?!’ _

“Really?” My sister’s purple eyes sparkled in hope.

“Yeah! I mean, she was in Torchwood jail cells, and she’s definitely killed him a couple times, but she was happy!”

There was a suddenly haunted look in her eyes. She was staring at my face intently, seeing a ghost of what was to come.

Jack came up and the look was gone. “I felt like I was missing out.” He explained to me. I gave him a pleading look to go away, but he turned to Darcy. “Hello. Captain Jack Harkness. I’ve heard a lot of things about you.”

If anything that statement made Darcy look worse. “G-good things?”

Jack nodded. I found myself nodding with him.  _ ‘What level of drunk was I tonight? Did I even have a ‘friendly’ level?’  _ “The best. Anyone else that can boss TJ around is good in my book.”

Darcy raised an eyebrow. She was still nervous around Jack for reasons I can’t begin to fathom.  _ ‘Fathom. That’s...that’s a funny song. Fathoms below, below. From whence wayward westerlies blow!’  _ “TJ? That’s...tame.”

“I know. She calls me-”

“Buttface, cause you have a butt instead of a chin.” Darcy cut him off. There was a reminiscent smirk on her face. “And cause you let dicks get in both.” She added.

“That sounds harsh.”

“Nah, you just stole mine.”

_ ‘Can you feel the sexual tension tonight?’ _

“Plus, I like the nicknames  _ I  _ gave her.” Darcy began. “Like  _ ‘yellow’ _ or  _ ‘bitch’ _ or  _ ‘sister’ _ .”

Even my drunken mind caught  _ that _ . “Hey!” I snapped.

“Sister?” Jack said, looking between Darcy and I. “You really take that companion thing pretty far, huh?”

My sister didn’t react to my warning glare. “I’ll explain in a minute.” Darcy looked to me with a held back expression. “I know you’re mad, but his future self knew.”

If I was going with this crazy man, I must be more plastered than I thought.

“Yeah, Same here.” Darcy shrugged. She turned to Jack. “Time travel is fucking stupid, same for my life, so I’m going to just say it. Terra is from another reality-universe-whatever where everything’s a TV show called  _ Doctor Who _ .”

“Darce, you’re telling him  _ everything _ -”

She threw me a  _ ‘sis, you gotta trust me on this.’ _

“She’s some weird next step in human evolution, or that’s what she thinks anyway. She has no real idea ‘cause she’s never met anybody else with powers like that. She knows the future, deal with it.” My sister sipped at her drink. “And I’m her sister from another...world, reality. She brought me up after my parents died.” She pointed a warning finger at him. “This is the part where I tell you if you break her heart, I will kill you in every way that can be imagined and then the ways that can’t.”

I let me head fall to my hands with a  _ clap _ .

Jack was silent for a moment, I didn’t want to look at his expression.

“She told me she lost her memories.” He stated. In a voice void of the flirty warmth it had.

“She did. She has no memories of Gallifrey, and of the years on Earth.” Darcy explained. She pulled my hand away from my face. I childishly tried keeping it where it was. “It’s bullshit- _ sister you better move that hand- _ cause she still has nineteen years missing- _ I will slap you. I have some from our Slap Bet saved up-! _ This girl? She’s got- _ no sense I’m about to beat some sense into you, don’t care if it’s your birthday- _ no sense of home in her hearts. That’s fucked up.  _ This is fucked up. You’re the oldest! _ ”

Throughout the whole speech, she managed to pull my hands behind my back. She had done more childish antics, that Ias a proper Time Lady did  _ nothing  _ to encourage such behavior.

There I was, on my birthday, slightly buzzed from my drinks, surrounded by half my companions, and one tried to put me in a police hold.

Captain Buttface was staring at me, a questioning look in his blue eyes. I tried to answer them back, to get Jack to stop  _ looking  _ at me like that. To stop staring at me like I had betrayed him.

“I’m sorry.” I heard a voice sounding an awful lot like mine  _ sobbed.  _ “I’m sorry. It just started happening when I was a kid. I was so scared that there was something wrong with me. There was all this power in my hands, I couldn’t stand by and do nothing. I didn’t...I do what I can with this,  _ I can’t watch people die again _ .  _ I won’t turn into-” _

“TJ, slow down!” Jack called over my panicked speech. It was nothing short of a miracle that no one had come in here already. What with all the noise we had to be making. “I don’t know all about what’s happening with these... _ dimension hopping powers _ .” He stuffed his hands into his pockets, letting his shoulders relax. “Except that there is  _ nothing _ wrong with you.”

Oh. That’s...actually really nice.

“Does the Doctor know about your powers?” Jack asked, after a long pause.

Behind me, Darcy shuffled on her feet. I shook my head, feeling my head spin a bit from the action. “No, I keep a tight lid on that. At best, he’ll think I’m psychic.” I argued away.

Jack perked up. “I know something before the Doctor. I like that feeling.”

“Moving on from  _ that _ .” I tossed back a bit of my hair, turning to my sister. “What do you need us for?”

“It’s gonna easier with you here.” Darcy perked up. She motioned her head towards the door. “There’s a thing in this guy’s office I need to steal. You can lock pick better than me. We’ll be in and out.”

 

==CON==

 

“You are so fucking dead, Anderson. When I get out of this thing, you are so fucking dead.”

“You’ve been saying that for thirty years.”

“This time I mean it you whore!”

“It’s your time of the month, isn’t it?”

“Time Ladies don’t get that.”

“You are fucking pulling my leg.”

“I  _ wish _ I was pulling it off!”

It had been going well. Darcy had apparently been undercover as a stripper to investigate an underground drug smuggling ring which was being run from this club. It would’ve been funny if Jack didn’t add in that was why he had been sent to this club as a Time Agent.

Darcy was supposed to be stealing a ledger which would be leverage against the leader of the drug ring, Kyllan, so as to free the planet, Clilles M5I2, from his harsh drugs. If we couldn’t stop it now, the planet would have decades.

What my sister neglected told me was that there were guard patrols. We were immediately taken into the dungeons beneath the club, to be cuffed to the walls, with the music too loud overhead for anyone to hear us. Well, the humans were cuffed to the wall. I was connected to a chain in the middle of the floor.

It was too short for me to kick my sister in the face.

The three of us would’ve been out of here ages ago if those thugs hadn’t taken my Infinity Bag. Now I was an angry drunk, stressed, and angry.

Jack was finding our conversation hilarious. It was the knowledge that we’re blood related that made this whole  _ fucking  _ thing _ funny _ .

“You know, you blame me for everything.” Darcy added.

“That’s because you’re the one to blame for everything!” I shouted. For Story’s sake, she was such a pain!

My sister scoffed. Jack chuckled, watching the exchange with interest. What was going through that man’s head right now?

“You know, for a while I doubted you were related.” Jack admitted.

“I doubt it too!” I snapped. “Remember the Lime Shirt Incident?”

That made my sister groan, rolling her purple eyes heavily. She had a rough childhood in  _ Child’s Play _ . Most of the years were in foster care, but sometimes I’d grab what little we had so we could live on the road. It was better than some of those foster homes.

At times, I was low on cash. We had to steal from department stores. Darcy and I would scout a place, rob it for what we needed, and leave. Most of the times we’d store the stolen goods in the air vents, then come back after closing to collect.

“I told you to stuff the shirt in the air vent, but you decided to wear it in broad daylight!” I shouted at her. “In front of the store owner!”

“Oh my Storyline.  _ I needed new clothes _ !” Darcy argued in exasperation.

It was an old argument, but I still feel like my side was right. “You couldn’t have waited five hours? You were in a holding cell for two days!”

“You were the reason we weren’t sent back to the Care.” Darcy pointed out. She pulled against her chains, eyeing them cautiously. “So stop bitching about that shirt already.”

“Then there was the car crash.” I added, as of an afterthought.

“...okay that you  _ can _ blame on me. I swear, that lamppost came out of nowhere!” My sister argued. She turned to Jack. “She was dead on her feet. I offered to drive us to the next town. For my first time, it was better then expected.”

_ “You were eight!” _

At that point that Jack officially lost it. He started guffawing in his chains, loudly echoing in our cell.

“ _ Thank ya kindly, you idiot! _ Why are all my picks idiots?! _ ” _

“All we can do is laugh. It’s filling the silence until you come up with something.” Darcy explained. She was laughing too. “You’re the Plan-maker person.”

Why were my companions turning into hyenas? My hands dug in my hair, tugging to wake me up from this nightmare. The assholes. I should replace both of them, see if they laugh then! “If I made the Plan, we wouldn’t be in the _drug lord’s secret nightclub jail!_ ”

“So make the plan, bitch.”

I grunted in annoyance, letting the chains clunk heavily on the floor.  _ ‘Such a good little sister. When can I have her replaced?’  _ “I ask the Doctor telepathically, whore.”

“You can do that?” Darcy asked me, eyes wide. She turned to Jack. “She can do that?”

“Yeah. It feels strange to be left out of a conversation.” Jack admitted. He turned his head towards Darcy, giving her a happy grin. “Except when she starts glaring. That’s when I’m happy not to be in the know.”

She smirked “Good point.”

Great. Soon the flirting was gonna start. Could they go back to bedroom eyes please?

“Isn’t that dangerous?” Darcy asked, cutting off my train of thought. “Having the _ Doctor _ in your head?”

“He’s not there all the time.” I explained, annoyed. I was eager to get out of my chains. “It’s like weird texting, and sometimes emotions. He’s not there any longer than I want him to be.  _ Now can I get some quiet so I can call him?” _

Darcy held her hands as far up as her chains would let her.

I huffed, happy she was quiet at least for now.  _ ‘Hey Doctor. I could use a little help.’ _

There was silence on his end. Tense silence, that never fled to anything good.

“Is it working?” Darcy asked Jack.

“No idea. Ask her.” Jack responded.

_ So. _

_ Helpful. _

“Hey. Hey. Hey Yellow? Yellow? Yellow, hey. Yellow, is it working?”

“Shut  _ up _ Purple. He’s replying.”

“How long does it take to reply to a  _ thought _ ?”

_ ‘Where have you been?’ _

“He’s  _ angrily  _ replying.”

“Oooh. You’re in trouble!” She teased, like she was an eight year old.

_ ‘Trapped with Jack in a dungeon. Where have you been?’ _ I recounted. “Didn’t I tell you to be quiet?”

“Eww. I can feel the love. Keep those disgusting emotions away from me.” My sister ordered. She recoiled as far as the chains would let her.

I rolled my eyes. The Doctor was sending me furious mental waves. This wasn’t much of a punishment from him. That would people if he left me here with  _ them _ . I’m more mad at myself for doing this whole thing drunk.

_‘Oh just great. You and_ your companion _got arrested at your birthday celebration. Rose and I have been searching everywhere for you two!’_

_ ‘We were helping out my friend-’ _

_ ‘A real friend, or the friend that isn’t a friend?’ _

_ ‘The second one.’ _ I answered.  _ ‘Turns out the owner of the club is drug lord. My friend needed help getting dirt.’ _

_ ‘So you know about the drug lord thing too.’ _

“How they fuck did you find that out?” I shouted in surprise.

Darcy snapped her head at me. Her eyes were wide in fear. “Does he know about me? He can’t know about me. Sis, you  _ have  _ to tell me if he knows about me. It’s too early. It’ll ruin  _ everything. _ ”

“Calm down. He knew the owner was a drug lord.” I reassured, surprised at how worried she was about that. “Why is your identity so important?”

My sister anxiously writhed in her chains. Her head darted about, looking anywhere but myself and Jack. Her chains rattled loudly as she pulled on them, trying to pry her wrists out. “I-It just is, okay? Shit.” Darcy’s breathing sped up. “Shit fuck. Shit FUCK!”

“He doesn’t know anything, you dumbass!” I barked. It should have been a bark. The worry and confusion in my voice kinda ruined it.

Darcy did calm down, in that she stopped shaking the chains. Her breathing was too rapid for my tastes. Something happened in that Year, something bad. What could it have been to make her shake in fear at the Doctor finding her out?

_ ‘Terra?’ _ The Doctor’s voice came insistently.

_ ‘Sorry. Having another conversation.’ _ I put more focus onto the Doctor. Darcy needed space to work herself out.  _ ‘Can you get us out of the dungeon? There was a room down the hall from Kyllan’s office. It had a lot of equipment in it. One of them _ has _ to be the switch connected to our cuffs. I’d’ve switched them off myself, except they took my Bag.’ _

_ ‘Should be an easy fix with the sonic.’  _ The Doctor responded. For a moment, I felt some hope that I would get out of this with the least amount of humiliation. He sent of quick mental wave of amusement.  _ ‘What kind of nightclub has a dungeon?’ _

_ ‘The kind Buttface takes us to.’ _ I answered, smirking.

Darcy’s voice butt in. “Oh! Now I get what Jack meant. It’s creepy to see her smiling like that and not know why.” She explained. “When I see that smile good things don’t happen to me.”

“You see that face often, huh?” Jack replied.

“Not as often as I’d like seeing your’s.” She flirted on a reflex.

_ ‘Hurry. I am trapped in a room with two flirts.’ _

_ ‘You’ve made your bed, Terra. Now you lay in it.’ _

_ ‘If they start having dungeon sex I will never forgive you.’ _

“I think it’s story time.” Darcy chirped. “I want the story of why you brought her to a nightclub. You and I both know she doesn’t  _ dance. _ ”

“I hate both of you!” I sighed, dejectedly, before I fell to the floor in an undignified heap.

 

==CON==

 

Twenty minutes later, the Doctor’s plan to unlock the chains worked. The manacles around our wrists released. I rubbed my slightly raw wrists as my companions adjusted themselves.

_ ‘Thanks Magoo. I’ll catch up with you soon.’ _

“Sis, that briefcase-” Darcy began the second her feet touched the ground. “It would be in his safe. When he’s in  _ Moonshine _ , he keeps it there. Anytime else it’s on his wrist. This is the best chance we have to grab it.”

“I’m on it.” I stated. “I’ll take my Bag while I’m at it.”

“What about Kyllan?” Jack asked. He rubbed at his red wrists as the three of us circled in the center of the room. “Someone needs to go after him.”

“If Magoo and Carolina haven’t already.” I pointed out. “Purple, go with Buttface. You’ve fought more drug lords than they have.”

“Yes ma’am.” She gave a curt nod.

“Buttface, until otherwise, you’re to call me when he’s found.”

“You don’t have your phone.” Darcy pointed out.

I shrugged. “It’s in my Bag. There should be plenty of time for me to find it before you call.” I explained.

Darcy’s eyebrows went up, same as the corners of her lips. “Is this a contest?”

“No. In a contest you would have a chance.” I told her cheekily.

Jack pulled out a phone. If I though too much on where he hid it, I would start blushing. “You’ve never left speed dial.”

“You had that phone up your ass.” Darcy commented. “That’s taking ‘butt dial’ way too seriously.”

“Oh thank my Storyline.” I breathed. “You can’t say things like that.”

“You were thinking it too.”

“Purple, I expect him caught within the hour.” I ordered, not daring to agree with her out loud. I walked over to the door, testing to see if it was also unlocked. Presumably yes, no one ever kept chained up prisoners in locked doors anymore? “By either group.”

“He’ll have a ribbon.” Darcy smirked. She walked behind me. “And be naked.” She winked.

I didn’t give her a reprimanding look. She could turn him into Pinhead from  _ Hellraiser _ right now and I’d be fine. “Not the worst present you’ve given me. We meet up here when’s he captured. Understood?”

“Yes ma’am.” My companions practically saluted me.

With that settled, I opened the door to our dungeon cell. The door had been unlocked with our chains. Those are the downsides to having everything powered by electronics. For a drug lord, Kyllan isn’t too smart.

The guards were posted down the hall. I could handle a few on my own. Darcy and Jack would be fine.

I took a right out the door. Jack and Darcy went left.  _ I wish there was enough time to get another glass of whiskey. _

“Eldest, huh?” I heard over my shoulder.

“Oldest. Big difference.”

 

==CON==

 

Tracing my way back to Kyllan’s office was easier without Darcy and Jack over my shoulder. The extra guard patrols were quicker to sneak past.

The office was the carbon copy of Henry van Statten’s. There was a giant portrait of him: a humanoid blue alien with thorax on his head, and two thin prongs on the sides of his mouth. It reminded me of Chantho, probably a few years back on the evolutionary scale and a lighter shade of blue. There was an alien flag in there. His desk was the black hardwood type you’d expect a villainous drug lord to have, included with those stupid clacking balls.

Another perfect detail, the Doctor and Rose standing in the middle of the room. Magoo looked tickled pink to see me. Probably because I had been trapped with flirty companions. He had his Rose. Sweet innocent Carolina Rose  _ ‘only flirts to make him jealous’ _ Tyler.

“What a birthday, huh?” I stated before blatantly searching the office for the briefcase Darcy had described. “How’s your night going?”

Kyllan was narcissistic, from the painting alone. If it wasn’t inside his desk, then it was in the secret safe behind the painting. How did I know that, you ask? Because there is  _ always  _ a secret safe.

The Doctor stared at me curiously as I searched through his desk. I opened all the drawers big enough for it. “Pretty good. Came here for a birthday party. The birthday girl left with her  _ companions _ .”

The last drawer closed with a loud crack. “She sounds interesting.” Was my comment.

“And when I hear from her, she says she’s trapped in a dungeon because she had been trying to steal from the known drug smuggler, Kyllan Deoh’ass.” The Doctor glowered at me. “Any idea why she would do that?”

I smiled, weakly. “It’s for a good cause.” I went move the painting back, revealing a large in-wall safe with a digital keypad.

“How did you know there was a safe there?” Rose asked, surprised.

“You’ve never stolen from a drug lord before. They  _ always  _ have a safe in their office, behind their desk.” I excused, waving her concern off. Rose blinked in surprise. “Trust me it gets boring. They don’t even  _ try  _ anymore.”

“That safe isn’t your typical twenty first century safe.” The Doctor pointed out. There was a heavy glare on his face, “It needs a specific eight digit code. How exactly did you plan on opening it?”

Unashamed, I smiled at him. “I  _ was _ going to use some drywall dust to see which numbers were used. It gets a little time consuming after that, more time than I have, so I’m happy that I can use the screwdriver.”

Rose chuckled, not even covering it up as a cough. The Time Lord shook his head. Probably wondering why the last Time Lady was so cool in letting him help save a planet in need.

He was smirking. It was  _ expressive. _

He tossed me the sonic. “Setting 146.” He informed, shoulders slumping in defeat.

“Thank ya kindly.” I was bursting in satisfaction.

“Where’s your other companion?” Rose asked, cheery. “It’s about time we met her.”

“She’s waiting for me to give her the briefcase that’s inside the safe.”

“Yeah that’s great, but where is she  _ physically _ ?” Rose pressed.

“Not here.” I snorted.

“Are you still drunk?” The Doctor’s voice boomed.

“Sobering and hating it.” I admitted.

“Terra!”

“She’s going after Kyllan, alright?”

The Doctor glared. “She’s going after him? Alone?!”

“Relax. She’s done it _ before. _ ” I rolled my eyes. The safe popped open with a loud clank. “It’s what she did instead of hopscotch.” I pulled out the briefcase. “Oh good! Our bags are in here too. Perfect.”

“How does your friend know about Kyllan?” The Doctor argued. I threw her red handbag into mine. If she wanted it, she’d have to ask. “Better yet, how did she get  _ here _ ?”

“No idea.” I answered curtly, throwing my bag over my shoulder. “I trust her, though. She wouldn’t come to me unless there was a real danger.”

“Well pardon me for saying this, but I  _ don’t  _ trust her. You haven’t told us  _ anything  _ about her. You’ve just broken into the safe of a drug lord for her,  _ I  _ broke you out of your dungeon, Rose nearly got captured herself-”

“She was _ what?!” _ My head snapped around to Rose, to see if there was any damage I had to have missed when I first looked at her earlier.

The Earth girl was unharmed, but she was looking off in a corner awkwardly. I guess knowing the Doctor and I weren’t arguing over sexual tension made things  _ awkward _ .

“-and I don’t even know her name.” The Doctor scolded. “I don’t appreciate secrets. You’ve already kept too many for my taste.”

Then there was all the  _ other _ secrets I had been keeping from him. My Bag with weapons, my being a Time Lady, and there was the obvious I was from another reality. Logan killing his future self.  _ Seeing  _ his future self. My body was prepared to turn to him, to tell him all the things he wanted to know about Darcy. My secrets had endangered Rose, all the reason he needed to lash out at me. I’d lash out at him too it he hurt Darcy-

Then the image of Darcy hanging in chains, rambling in fear at the  _ mere idea _ of the Doctor knowing anything about her. The fear in my sister’s eyes, the panic as she pulled at chains.

With a resigned sigh, I made my decision. I turned to the Doctor with a serious expression. “You want to know why you haven’t told you anything about her? Because she’s a dangerous psychopath with a long history of violence. Let’s move on.” I marched towards the door.

“Terra, wait-”

I was halfway down the hall before I let myself start to laugh.

 

==CON==

  
  


It was my luck that the Doctor and Rose followed behind me. It was hard to keep from laughing.

The phone rang. I pulled it up to my ear. “Hey.”

_ “Damn it. Thought I beat you for once.” _ Darcy sighed over the line.

“I did warn you.” I reminded her. The Doctor and Rose came up behind me. “It helps that I wasn’t being followed by Buttface.”

_ “Fair. Is Doc on your tail?” _

“Yep. I’d headed to the dungeon now.”

_ “Great. Okay. Good. Time to put my outfit to use.” _

“How about you don-”  _ click _ “Damn her to hell.”

“Terra!” The Time Lord called to me, in a slightly raised voice of anger.

“Doctor!” I called back, trying to copy Rose’s English accent. Doing a half decent job, if I say so myself. “Rose!” With that one, I copied the Doctor’s burly North accent.

_...I have the strangest feeling I did that before. When was that? I was drunk then too...it’ll come to me. _

“By the way, how did you unlocked the chains in our cells?” I asked, conversationally.

The Doctor caught up with me. “Sonicked the controls.” He answered. “What did you mean about-”

“How did you  _ nearly _ get caught?” I asked Rose while pulling out my phone.

The blonde stared at me with hesitance. “Uhh...umm...were you being serious?”

“Yeah, I really want to know how you escaped.”

“No...I mean about...your friend.”

“Oh! No.” I lied. “She’s fine.”

They visibly relaxed. There was a hurt feeling in my chest at having to lie to blatantly about Darcy. If she heard about this, she’d think I was ashamed of her. I’d never wanted her to think that.

“She’s a whore.” I added, after a moment’s pause. They weren’t so relaxed anymore. “Oh yeah. Biggest one I’ve ever met. Fuck’s anything, for anything. If she still had it, she’d give up her virginity for a Klondike bar. Then probably fuck herself with it. Half my companions are unashamed whores. Wow, how is this my life?” I rambled.

“Does she know you call her that?” Rose gaped.

“She  _ asks  _ me to call her that.” I explained, feeling my cheeks go an embarrassed red. “You’ll see it when you meet her. She’s proud of...that.”

Rose stared at me with wide whiskey brown eyes. She was probably picturing someone having sex with a Klondike bar-I can’t get the image out of my head and I must still be drunk because I was  _ hungry _ for a Klondike bar now.

Though I knew I wouldn’t like it, I glanced over at the Doctor. He was staring at me with a teasing look. “You’re always getting the troublemakers.”

“I hate them too.” My head shook, expression changing into a dejected frown. “But they get my jokes.”

“You’re not as funny as you think you are.”

“That’s why I have people like Jack and...Carl.”

“Carl?” The Doctor repeated, skeptical.

“She hates people knowing her name.” Was my excuse. It was close enough to the current truth, anyway. “So Carolina, you were telling me how you were nearly caught?”

“I wasn’t nearly caught. He’s talking rubbish.” Carolina gave me the tongue on teeth smile. “I used the psychic paper to make them think we were maintence. Worked like a charm.  _ He  _ was just being over dramatic.”

The Doctor made a noise of dislike. That was enough to tell me Rose was right.

“Not surprised.” I tsked. A devilish idea came to me, as I gave the Doctor a pout. He seemed to know what I was about to say next, giving me a disapproving look. “You’re always getting the drama queens.”

“Oi!”

Rose and I laughed at his misfortune.

“Alright, you lazy Brits let’s get moving. We’re headed to the dungeon. Carl called to tell me that’s where she took Kyllan.” I revealed.

“We should get going.” The Doctor voiced. “Who knows what those two have done to him.”

I started bouncing on the balls of my feet as we snuck our way back. Avoiding the guards who were searching for their leader and might want us dead.

“I’m gonna enjoy this. I won’t be outnumbered anymore.” I cheered. “More Americans than Brits. This birthday is goin’ great.”

Rose laughed. The Doctor tapped my shoulder. “Are they in your cell?”

I nodded. “They’d  _ never  _ expect us to hide him in there.”

 

==CON==

 

I know we made it back to the dungeon. I know there were at least fifteen knocked out guards on the floor. Some of them had been chained up in the other cells around our’s, others left lying about on the ground. They weren’t dead. Some would have killer headaches (and a broken leg in one case) otherwise they’d be fine.

Walking into the dungeon, I felt a sense of justice at seeing Kyllan in my old chains. Darcy had him kneeling on the ground, he didn’t like it by his intense snarling at my sister. He was wearing a gag out of what I can only guess were Jack’s socks. A quick peek showed that, yeah, Jack was missing his socks.

“So then, right, the sprinklers go off. Everyone is getting  _ soaked _ . Party’s over.” Darcy was telling Jack. It took me a while to figure out what story she was telling. “Until our girl grabs the mic and shouts  _ ‘wet t-shirt party!’ _ and takes off-”

“Carl!” I snapped. The Doctor and Rose walked in. The Doctor stood beside me, while Rose stood beside him. “I told you to never speak of it again!”

Jack frowned at me. “It was a good story. Supposed to have a  _ happy ending _ .”

My sister snorted into her hand. Kyllan shouted in nonsense behind his sock gag. He was glaring at me, and the briefcase.

“You must be the mystery companion.” The Time Lord kept a keen eye on the assassin.

She tensed under the stare. “That’s me. Yeah. Companion. Her’s.” She waved a nervous arm at me. Darcy added a shaky grin. “Carl. That’s what she called me. Because-” It turned to a tired and confused stare. _ “Carl? Seriously? You named me after that stupid llama?!” _ My sister hissed.

“It fit.” I shrugged, tossing her the metal case. She caught it happily. “Happy belated birthday. It was last month right?”

“Have a drink in my honor?” She asked quietly.

“Went to a nightclub, actually. With a caveman.” I informed, happily.

Darcy whistled. “Funny. That’s how  _ I  _ spent it.” She shook her head at me, biting her lip with a smile. “First an alcoholic, now a party girl. I’m so proud of you.”

“Shut up,  _ Carl _ .”

“I love when you say my name like that.”

I blushed.

“I love when I say something innocent and you automatically go to sex.” Darcy commented. She walked up to my free side, throwing an arm over my shoulder. I grimaced. “Not even any foreplay. Shame.”

She guided me away from the Doctor and Rose, towards the right hand side of the room. Why was she so nervous around  _ the Doctor  _ too? Just what happened in the Year? Did she laugh at his sticky uppy hair and he got stroppy or something?

“Sorry. Am I the only one that sees an alien chained to the floor?” Rose asked. “After how hard I worked to get them unlocked.”

Kyllan shouted beneath the socks.

“Hey!” Darcy whacked his head. “Told ya to shut up!”

“That’s the guy yeah?” Rose asked. “I remember his portrait.”

“That’s Kyllan Deoh’ass.” The Doctor nodded.

“Renowned drug lord in the thirty-seventh century.” Jack added. He “Apparently he expanded his trade to  _ Clillian minors. _ ”

The Doctor’s eyes narrowed on Jack, before turning to glare coldly at Kyllan. The blue alien didn’t have the decency to look ashamed. My sister held my neck harder.

Rose didn’t understand. “Minors? As in kids?”

“Got it in one, Rosie.” Jack answered grimly.

“The Clillies are easily influenced in their youth.” The Doctor began. “They’re frontal lobes continue to develop long after they’re burn. It doesn’t stop developing until adulthood. The kind of drugs this man is selling, they’re the kind that could damage that development.”

“It’s like killing them.” Darcy quickly interjected before hiding behind my shoulder again. “With drugs.”

“Yeah. It’s bad.” I agreed. “It’s like crack, ecstasy, and I think some weird flower. A lot of the people taking it already died.”

Rose gasped. She turned to the Doctor, waiting for his solemn nod before glaring at Kyllan. “That’s sick!”

Kyllan shouted.

“That means  _ ‘pay was good’ _ .” Darcy translated. “I speak Gag-block.” Rose blushed.

I giggled. “You’ve had practice.” She whacked the back of my head. “You’re  _ violent  _ tonight.”

“If I’m so violent can I complete my work, Paul?” She whispered in my ear.

I snorted. It was had to keep it from being too loud when I was still a bit drunk. “Down Carl.” I ordered. My hand reached out to pat her hand. “I told them you were a whore, by the way.”

“You did what?”

“That or a psychopath.”

“One or the other, or you can’t remember which?”

“I said both...probably.”

“Great. Thanks a  _ bunch _ .” Darcy grumbled. “I  _ hate  _ drunk you now. You can’t remember anything.”

“You’re going to stop all drug trade to the planet of Clilles M5I2.” The Doctor ordered. “You’re never going to step foot there again. You got that?”

The blue alien smirked, chuckling at us. He stuck out his bottom lip. “ _ ‘Oh. I’m so scared. The big bad man in the tacky leather jacket is shouting at me.’ _ ” Darcy translated. She snorted softly. “This’ll be good.”

The Doctor’s tactics weren’t working. Time for the birthday girl to have a go.

I lifted Darcy’s arm off me. My feet stormed up to his kneeling body. My hand grabbed his coat collar, pulling Kyllan up so he had no choice than to look into my eyes. I ripped out the socks, tossing them back to Jack.

“Listen to me,  **asswipe.”** I growled in a low tone. Kyllan stared at me in fearful surprise.  _ ‘Gotcha.’ _ “You are going to  _ leave _ . **Now.** ”

Kyllan tried to brace himself. Puffing up his chest, he tried to get what little authority he could. “See here you  _ delinquent- _ ”

My hand squeezed on his collar, pulling him up higher until the only thing he could look at was my eyes.

Kyllan clapped his mouth shut. The prongs on the sides of his mouth twitched and clicked.

“Was I **unclear**?” I barked into his face. “I said, **_now_**.”

The blue alien squeaked in fear. “Y-Yes ma’am. Please don’t hurt me.”

“Okay. Who else thought that was awesome?” Darcy asked the room.

 

==CON==

 

Darcy told a little white lie to sister. She didn’t spend her last birthday partying. Darcy didn’t think it was a big deal. It was just another birthday. She was going to be alive for a long time, there would be a hundred more birthdays.

She had called the Guardians, telling them her mission was complete. They’d be there in an hour. 

In that hour, Darcy showed Team TARDIS how wild Terra would get when properly drunk.

Darcy had bought a bottle of whiskey (with the Doctor’s card. He wasn’t using it anyway). She gave it to her sister. While reciting Rule 44, Terra chugged it down. Darcy loved it when her sister flipped that rule the bird. The assassin learned a bit during the Year about Time Lord alcohol limits. She had it to a science now.

Jack loved it when Terra started dancing on the table, dragging Rose up with her. The Doctor was happy too, despite his constant scowl.

Darcy couldn’t get herself to relax. She was following Rule 44 for once in her life. Maybe turning thirty-three made her mature. It  _ was  _ the majority age for Hobbits, that might have something to do with it.

Darcy hated growing up.

When it was time for her to go, dragging the briefcase and Kyllan with her, Darcy made a sappy goodbye with her sister. The Doctor and Rose were out on the dance floor. Jack having dragged the lot of them onto it.

“Will I ever find out what happened to you?” Terra asked. Her constantly sharp eyes were glassy now, focusing and unfocusing on Darcy tiredly. Her words were slurred. Her breathing was slow, as if she would fall asleep in the middle of a sentence.

Darcy’s eyes went sad. “Yeah. You find out.” She admitted. She wished her sister didn’t. She knew how protective her sister was. When Terra finds out what happened in the Year, Darcy doubts Terra will let Darcy out of her sight.

Terra just grinned stupidly. Drunkenly. How fucked was it that she’d only seen this Terra happy when she was drunk? “Cool. I like knowing things.”

“I know you do, Yellow.” Darcy punched her arm. Terra giggled. “Fucking know-it-all.”

“Fucking...haven’t done that.” Her head drooped, as if falling asleep. Terra snored, which startled her into waking up. “That’s what I told Rose! She thought I was fucking Magoo.”

Darcy gagged.

“I  _ know _ !” Terra shouted, eyes wide in understanding. “I set her straight. Hope she and Magoo make out now. That’d make me happy. Course, she has to break up with Mickey first. We’ll be going to Boom Town soon so that’s...nice...I like  _ Boom Town _ . It had that cool word. And the Bad Wolf.”

Oh, Darcy can’t believe she had forgotten to tell her  _ that _ . “You know the name of the drug he was giving kids?”

“Nope.” She popped.

“It was called  _ lupus malum. _ ” Darcy revealed.

“...that’s not funny.” Terra chuckled.

“What are you two crazy kids talking about?” Jack asked, draping his arm over Terra’s shoulders. Terra giggled hugging Jack back.

Okay, Darcy liked that about Drunk Terra. She liked hugs.

“Just saying good bye. I’m headed out.” Darcy admitted. “I wanna stay for the rest of her birthday, but I have stupid jobs. They probably won’t give me leave if I tell them it’s for my sister’s birthday.”

“That’s sad.” Terra complained. “I like spending birthdays with you. You make me do the fun stuff. Not that tonight wasn’t  _ fun, _ Buttface.” My sister’s expression broke out into an unwilling smile. “But next year, I’m gonna have a lie-in ‘kay? Watch a movie, eat popcorn?”

Jack laughed. Darcy watched with a bittersweet smile. She made her way out, able to hear the last bits of conversation.

“We never gave you your gift.”

“We stopped a drug lord selling to kids. That’s a good gift. You give the  _ best  _ gifts, Buttface.”

“We made apple pie. It’s in the TARDIS kitchen.”

“ _ Yes _ !”

“It’s worthy of a goddess.”

“It was just an apple pie!”

Darcy felt a smile under her worried frown.

She had to sneak Kyllan out, walking up to the meeting point with Drax. She waited until  _ Moonshine _ was out of her eyesight before angrily dragging Kyllan around.

He made a shout of protest. The assassin tossed him into the dirt, making sure he would land on his shoulder. She hoped it hurt.

She looked down at the blue alien. “I don’t know why they sent me here. They said I just had to stop you no matter what.” She opened her purse, pulling out a dagger.

Kyllan’s eyes widened in fear.

“They seem to know what I like, how I work.” Darcy explained. Her expression turned angry as she stared at the dagger. “They gave me this when I left. For whatever reason, the Guardians of the Galaxy want you dead and they want the files in this briefcase.” Darcy stated. “We take cases against children as a personal slight. I’m surprised they just want a simple stabbing and don’t want your dick on a wall.”

Kyllan, still scared he was going to die, started growling. “They’ll never get them! Those files will burn with the proper key.”

“That’d be a problem, yeah, except wasn’t that the same for your safe?” Darcy challenged. “And those cells? I got out, my friends got out. Not to mention I took our twenty guards without setting off a single alarm. Your club is still going on as if I was never there. If I can do that, how easy can I get into this case?”

“It’s impossible.”

“Right. Because it needs, what, your eye print?” Darcy asked. “Fingerprints? DNA lock? I can get past those.”

Before she got her answer, she stuck her knife into his neck. Kyllan choked. Dark blue blood started pouring from his neck.

“See? Got DNA right here.” The assassin pulled the dagger out. More blood poured out. Kyllan collapsed to the ground, his dark blue blood starting to pool around him.

Darcy moved the blade over the lock. She let some drops fall onto the digital lock. It beeped for a moment, testing the DNA. It glowed green just as Kyllan let out his final choked gasps.

“Huh. Didn’t think that would work at first.” Darcy admitted. She shrugged. “Happy coincidence, then.”

The assassin lowered the briefcase down, opening the top to find a whole lot of paperwork inside. She pulled it all out, rolling it up to stuff into her purse. Her sister had made the small handbag bigger on the inside. It could fit in the paperwork.

Darcy Anderson closed the clasp on her bag. She ran out of the alleyway, leaving the corpse of a drug lord behind.

This wasn’t her first time doing so.


	16. Boom Town

_ ‘You know, I’m getting really tired of the Doctor’s shit.’ _

This was my thought as we came to a hard stop, landing in what I hoped was the Cardiff of Rose’s time.

It had been a month since my birthday party. The four of us had been running to all the corners of the galaxy, just running. I actually stopped complaining about his driving.

Until today. It was back with a  _ VENGEANCE.  _ “Learn to drive you blind old coot!” I groaned, pushing myself to my feet. My head was spinning a bit. Sometimes it felt like he drove poorly on purpose.

The humans on board agreed with me. 

“Yeah, sorry about that one.” The Doctor winced. He was rubbing a spot on the back of his head. I hope he hit his head on the handrails. “The TARDIS gets a bit cranky without a good charging up.”

His explanation didn’t make me feel any better. I rubbed at my sore neck, glaring and sending all the mental waves of annoyance at him that I could. “Next time, don’t wait until the last minute.”

The Doctor nodded in agreement. He winced as the pain returned to his sore neck. The pain must have reminded him of something, for as soon as the pain left his face he was staring open mouth at me. “Oi! Who’s in charge of the ship?”

“The ship herself.” I voted, pointing up at the console.

“Whatever Terra said.” Jack agreed, pointing my general direction. He was just getting up to his feet as he did.

“Her.” Rose answered, pointing at me. I blushed a bit at the praise.

“Et tu, Rose?” The Doctor pressed, without heat. He got up, walking to the computer.

The blonde concubine nodded. “If she could drive, we’d be there on time.”

“No way. We’d get there  _ early _ . With time to go to a  _ shop _ and get a  _ welcome gift _ .” I argued, adding a smartass smirk the Doctor’s direction.

He stuck his tongue out at us.

Jack, Rose, and I laughed at him.

“Are we in Cardiff, at least?” Rose asked after she finished straightening herself up. She walked over to the Doctor’s side.

“We better be.” Jack commented. “Terra promised good food.”

The Doctor chuckled under his breath. “Yes, this is Cardiff. It’s even in Rose’s time.” 

“Yes!” I cheered in a stage whisper. “Now time for food.”

“You’ve got a stomach that’s bigger on the inside.” Jack teased.

“Time Lady technology, everything’s bigger on the inside.” I reminded matter-of-factly.. “Plus, I’m a growing Time Lady. I need enough food to keep me healthy for centuries.”

The Doctor shook his head. “Sorry  _ ‘growing Time Lady’ _ , but it looks like the landing was rougher than we thought. I need to make a few repairs- don’t you even start with the jokes.”

Jack and I made sounds of disappointment. It stopped when the Doctor put a light on his head. Then they became noises of amusement.

“I said don’t.” The Doctor pointed warning fingers at us. He shook his head, grinning.  “Honestly. You’re all worse than children.” He went to one of the bits of coral, climbing up to reach the metal grating on the ceiling.

“Oh come on.” I groaned. He made it too easy, but it would annoy me all day if I didn’t say anything. I made my way to the Doctor’s side, looking up at him. “You can’t call us kids when you’re playing on a jungle gym.”

The companions laughed. The Doctor gave me a quick scolding look before laughing himself.

 

==CON==

 

Two hours went by. Mostly of the four of us just sitting around the TARDIS console. I had been nose deep in my favorite Harry Potter book,  _ Prisoner of Azkaban _ . My copy of it, of course. I’d found that some of the copies here had _ me  _ in them. I’d rather not be stuck in a ‘ _ My Arm or Her’s?’ _ situation.

Though I knew I could read it the fast Time Lordy way, I’d decided to read it a human way. My way was still faster than the human’s. I’d just gotten to the part of Trelawney’s prediction of Voldemort when there was a knock at the door.

“Jack. You get it!” I shouted at him, turning the page to Hermione stealing the invisibility cloak.

“Yes ma’am!” Jack saluted me, going off to the door.

“I could’ve got it.” Rose pointed out from beside me. 

“For sure, Carolina.” I put my book back inside my Infinity Bag. Leaning closer to her, I whispered quiet enough so the Doctor wouldn’t hear. “But you were kinda busy staring at Magoo’s ass.”

Carolina’s cheeks went pink. She whacked my arm, giggling. “Shut up.”

“You didn’t deny it.” I sing-songed. There had been a lot of times I caught her staring at the Doctor’s ass, ever since my birthday. She’d been more brazen with it. It made me grin stupidly every time I caught her doing it. Jack always gave her an overdramatic wink.

The only person ignorant on the looks was the Doctor himself. Probably because he was giving looks back whenever Rose wasn’t staring.

Neither of them acted on their feelings, cause Rose was still with Mickey. I knew that was the real reason she asked to come back to her time. If she was single, then maybe she and the Doctor could be official.  _ I _ was certainly looking forward to it.

“Who the hell are you?” Jack’s voice shouted. Rose and I turned to him.

“What do you mean, who the hell am I?” Mickey shouted back. I snickered, leaning against the console. Rose was trying not to smile at Mickey’s misfortune. “Who the hell are you?”

“Captain Jack Harkness. Whatever you’re selling, we’re not buying.” Jack stated. He was closing to the door.

“Get out of my way!” Mickey shouted before pushing his way inside.

“Welcome back.” I cheered from the pilot seat.

“Don’t tell me. This must be Mickey.” Jack snarked while shutting the door.

“Here comes trouble!” The Doctor was already cracking jokes about our current sort-of companion. “How’re you doing, Ricky boy?” He asked from up above, still working on the repairs on the ship that  _ he _ drove. A part of me thinks she did it to herself to remind him to treat her right.

“It’s Mickey!” He corrected, annoyed.

“Yeah, Mickey the kid!” Came my gracious addition.

“I’m not a kid!” Mickey shouted back, pointing a warning finger at me.

“Don’t listen to them, they’re winding you up.” Rose assured. Though anyone could see she was smiling at the teasing too.

“You look fantastic.” Mickey complimented. The couple hugged.

The Doctor, Jack, and I rolled our eyes. Though I rolled them so hard I heard a joint in my neck crack.

Jack came over to stand by me “Aw, sweet, look at these two. How come I never get any of that?” He asked, more directed at me. 

The Doctor cracked a smirk. “Buy me a drink first.”

My companion glanced up. “You’re such hard work.”

“But worth it.” The Doctor winked.

“Would a drink work on you?” Jack asked me.

“Didn’t work on my birthday, won’t work here, Buttface.” I explained cheekily.

Jack laughed, lightly punching my arm. “One of these day’s, I’ll crack your hard shell.”

I made an unsympathetic pout. “Poor thing. Can’t get a date.” _ ‘Should ask your future self. If I’m right, he’s downstairs.’ _

“Did you manage to find it?” Rose asked, ignoring my well crafted antics.

“There you go.” The man gave Rose her much beloved assport. 

Rose squealed loudly. She turned towards the Doctor and I, holding up the little blue booklet like a child holding up a blue ribbon. “I can go anywhere now.”

“Why would you need a passport, Carolina?” I asked, annoyed at the repeated argument. “You don’t need it in here.”

“Exactly! I don’t need it  _ here _ .” Rose repeated  _ her _ side of the argument. “Cause it’s all very well going to Platform One and Justicia and the  _ Glass Pyramid of San Kaloon _ -”

“You loved that place!” I challenged.

Rose stuck her tongue out at me. “But what if we end up in Brazil? I might need it.” She turned to her boyfriend, proud. “You see, I’m prepared for anything. Thought you’d appreciate that much.”

I rolled my eyes, all in good humor.

“I love it when they fight like that.” Jack mused to the Doctor.

“Sounds like your staying, then.” Mickey decided. “So, what’re you doing in Cardiff? And who the hell’s Jumping Jack Flash? I mean, I don’t mind you hanging out with big-ears up there or the walking hoodie-”

“Oi!”

“Hey!”

“Look in the mirror!” Mickey shouted back. He turned to point at Jack. “But this guy, I don’t know, he’s kind of.”

“Handsome?” Jack boasted.

Mickey grimaced. “More like cheesy.”

Jack threw an arm over my shoulder. “Early twenty first Century slang. Is cheesy good or bad?” He asked me.

“Bad.” I supplied.

Jack quirked an eyebrow. “But bad means good, isn’t that right?”

“Not in this context.” I explained. “This is bad like  _ ‘dad in a sweater vest’ _ , you’re thinking bad like  _ ‘leather jacket and mirror shades _ ’.”

“Are you saying I’m not handsome?” The Doctor suddenly broke in. He glared over at us, climbing down from the ladder.

I turned to Jack. “Buttface help me. I can’t answer him.”

“We just stopped off. We need to refuel.” Rose explained to Mickey. “The thing is, Cardiff’s got this rift running through the middle of the city.”

“It’s invisible, but it’s like an earthquake fault between different dimensions.” I clarified.

“The rift was healed back in 1869.” The Doctor started us off.

“Thanks to a girl named Gwyneth, because these creatures called the Gelth.” Rose tagged in.

“They were using the rift as a gateway but she saved the world and closed it.” I explained.

“But closing a rift always leaves a scar, and that scar generates energy, harmless to the human race-” Jack continued.

“But perfect for the TARDIS.” The Doctor clarified. “So just park it here for a couple of days right on top of the scar and-”

“Open up the engines, soak up the radiation.” Jack added. 

“Like filling her up with petrol and off we go!” Rose added.

“Into time!” Jack shouted.

“And space!” The Doctor, Rose, Jack and I cheered.

Let it be on the record, that in my head fireworks were going off behind us. There was an added echo effect of our voices. Plus a lot of applause.

Outside my head, Mickey was staring at us in disbelief.

“My God, have you seen yourselves?” Mickey asked rhetorically. “You all think you’re so clever, don’t you?”

“Yeah.”

“Yeah.”

“Yep!”

“Why is there doubt?”

 

==CON==

 

Once the Doctor finished the repairs, we all set out to get lunch. I had tapping my foot by the door like an impatient child for not of it.

Mickey was giving Rose the ‘I’m gonna break up with this girl but I don’t want to’ and Rose was giving the ‘I’m gonna break up with him and I  _ really _ want to be nice about it’.

“Should take another twenty four hours, which means we’ve got time to kill.” The Doctor informed.

“That old lady’s staring.” Mickey pointed out.

“Probably wondering what five people could do inside a small wooden box.” Jack jokingly punched my shoulder.

“What are you captain of, the Innuendo Squad?” Mickey grimaced.

Jack made a ‘whatever’ gesture.

_ ‘Hahaha inn-your-end-though’ _

“Wait, the TARDIS, we can’t just leave it. Doesn’t it get noticed?” Mickey asked.

“Yeah, what’s with the police box?” Jack added. “Why does it look like that?”

“It’s a cloaking device.” Rose explained, beaming.

“It’s called a chameleon circuit.” I clarified.

“The TARDIS is meant to disguise itself wherever it lands, like if this was Ancient Rome, it’d be a statue on a plinth or something.” The Doctor explained in his proud teacher voice. “But I landed in the 1960s, it disguised itself as a police box, and the circuit got stuck.”

“So it copied a real thing? There actually was police boxes?” Mickey checked.

“Yeah, on street corners.” The Doctor wen on. “Phone for help before they had radios and mobiles. If they arrested someone, they could shove them inside till help came, like a little prison cell.”

“Why don’t you just fix the circuit?” Jack pointed out, simply.

“I like it, don’t you?” The Doctor countered while leaning on the locked door.

“I love it.” Rose grinned her signature smile.

“I try not to think about that.” I admitted, leaning against the side of the box. “I just focus on what’s inside...and I like the blue.”

“But that’s what I meant.” Mickey reminded, a smug smile on his face. “There’s no police boxes anymore, so doesn’t it get noticed?”

The all knowing Time Lord made slow steps towards the human. “Ricky.” Mickey gave him a flat look. “Let me tell you something about the human race. You put a mysterious blue box slap bang in the middle of town, what do they do?” The Doctor put his hands on Mickey’s shoulders, looking him in the eyes.

Mickey spluttered for an answer.

“Walk past it. Now, stop your nagging. Let’s go and explore.”

“What’s the plan?” Rose asked the Doctor.

“Get some good food.” I groaned. My head lolled back. Jack threw his arm around my back, as if we were a couple. I embraced his weird hug. Jack always made me forget that hugs were awkward.

The Doctor laughed at me. “Get her to stop her whining, that’s my plan.” I stuck my tongue out at him. “Then, I don’t know. Cardiff, early twenty first century and the wind’s coming from the east. Trust me. Safest place in the universe.”

But Jack looked down at me, a question written plainly on his face.

Jack knew now, that I knew. He hadn’t asked questions about his future, which made me uneasy. A part of me  _ wanted _ all the questions. Maybe he’d ask about himself, if he’d ever remember, if anyone from his past was okay, if  _ he  _ was okay.

He didn’t.

He just went with it.

...I’m proud of him for it.

So when he looked down at me, asking literally the first question since he found out the truth, I answered.

I shook my head.

Jack gave a curt nod of understanding, as the two of us followed after the Doctor and Rose.

 

==CON==

 

Ten minutes later, we found a place to eat. For the next hour, the five of us just sat around the table being happy. Rose was telling Mickey about all the exciting things that they’d done since last we saw them.

Rose got the fun job of telling Mickey I was a Time Lady, and my actual age. The human had said it explained a lot about me.

Well we got some British chips. We’d been exchanging stories for the past hour. I sat beside Jack. He’d be resting his head on my shoulder if I let him. Mickey was on Jack’s other side, which left the Doctor and Rose with only each other as company. It felt like being Home.

Jack was laughing with us. “I swear, six feet tall and with big  _ tusks- _ ” He explained.

“You’re lying through your teeth!” The Doctor remarked. He’d been smiling for the whole story.

“I’d have gone bonkers!” Rose laughed loudly. “That’s the word - bonkers!”

“I mean, it turns out the white things are tusks and I mean tusks!” Jack explained on. “And it’s woken, and it’s not happy.”

“How could you not know it was there?” The Doctor asked.

Jack shrugged innocently. “And we’re standing there, fifteen of us,  _ naked- _ ”

“Naked?!” Rose laughed.

“Why am I surprised?” I asked. 

“And I’m like, ‘ _ oh, no, no, it’s got nothing to do with me’ _ .” The fifty-second century man “And then it roars, and we are running. Oh my God, we are running! And Brakovitch falls, so I turn to him and I say-”

“I knew we should’ve turned left!” Mickey finished.

The Doctor, Rose, and I started laughing like mad.

Jack pointed a finger at him, still laughing. “That’s my line!”

“I don’t believe you. I don’t believe a word you say ever!” The blonde human shook her head at him. Her signature smile clear on her face. “That is so brilliant. Did you ever get your clothes back?”

Between all the laughter, I saw the Doctor get up from his seat. He went over to another patron, getting the newspaper from him.

“No, I just picked him up went right for the ship, full throttle. Didn’t stop until I hit the space lanes. I was shaking.” Jack answered.

The look on the Doctor’s face made the hairs on my neck stand up.

“It was unbelievable. It freaked me out, and by the time I got fifteen light years away I realized I’m like this.” Jack motioned to his body. 

The Doctor came back to the table.

“Ah no, no. Put that face away.” Groaned an annoyed me. “We’re having fun! What’s gone wrong now?”

“And I was having such a nice day.” The Doctor showed off the newspaper.

It was Blon Fel Fotch.

My head hit the table with a  _ thunk. _

 

==CON==

 

The five of us went to the Mayor’s office. We strode in, Mission Impossible music playing in my head. 

I stood in the center of them.

“The target is the last surviving member of the Slitheen family, a criminal from the planet Raxacoricofallapatorius, masquerading as a human being, zipped inside a skin suit.” I reported. “Okay, plan of attack: we cover all available exits on the ground floor. Doctor, you and me’ll go face to face with the target. That’ll designate Exit One, Buttface’ll cover Exit Two. Carolina Rose, you’re Exit Three. Mickey the kid, you take Exit Four. Everyone copy?”

“Excuse me.” I tilted my head to look up at him. “Who’s in charge?” The Time Lord noted.

“You got a better plan, Mr. Magoo?” I challenged. 

“Yes, actually, I do. Here it is.” The Doctor argued. I raised my eyebrow at him, giving him a flat lip too. “Like she said. Nice plan.” My lip curled back to form a pleased smirk. “Anything else?”

“Phones.” I signaled.

The others pulled out their phones. 

“Ready.” They all answered.

“Ready.” I clapped it closed. “Speed dial?”

“Yup.”

“Ready.”

“Check.”

“See you in hell.”

“I’ll save you a seat.”  _ ‘But the throne is mine _ !’

_ ‘...okay maybe I  _ am _ a control freak.’ _

 

==CON==

 

The Doctor and I arrived at Blon’s office without any trouble. The secretary, Idris, was still hard at work.

“Hello, we’ve come to see the Lord Mayor.”

Idris glanced at us. He could barely hide his disdain for us. “Have either of you got an appointment?” He asked, with a high snooty voice. 

The Doctor shook his head, smiling wide. I was holding back chuckles. “No, we’re just some old friends passing by. Bit of a surprise. Can’t wait to see her face.” He admitted.

“She won’t be expecting it.” I agreed with a smile.

Idris winced. “Well, she’s just having a cup of tea.” He excused.

That might stop a British man from going in, not two Time Lords on a mission.

“How about you go in there, and tell the  _ Lord Mayor _ , that  _ the Doctor  _ and  _ Terra Johnson _ would like to see her.” I politely ordered.

“Doctor who?”

“Just the Doctor. Tell her exactly that.  _ The Doctor  _ and _ Terra Johnson _ .” The Doctor repeated my instruction.

Idris made a long suffering sigh. “Hang on a tick.” The secretary walked back inside the office.

_ ‘I can order people too, ya know.’ _ I thought to the Doctor.

_ ‘I know. I’ve got personal experience with that.’ _ He thought back.  _ ‘It’s just such a good line. I couldn’t pass on that delivery.’ _

_ ‘Oh my Storyline. You glory whore.’ _

_ ‘Oi watch it, sailor. You were giving him the same thing I was.’ _

_ ‘Yeah. I’m a teen, I’m young. You’re supposed to be the bigger man, teach me the err of my ways!’ _ I laughed.  _ ‘You’re a crap teacher.’ _

The Doctor snorted, good naturedly.  _ ‘Maybe you’re a rubbish student.’ _

_ ‘*gasp* How’d you know that?!’ _

There was a small crash of glass. I couldn’t stop the snort that came out. Beside me, Magoo’s shoulders were shaking. Not noticeable to a human, easy to spot for a Time Lady.

Idris came back out. He had his back pressed against the door, blocking entry. The Doctor and I just stared patiently.

“The Lord Mayor says thank you for popping by.” He lied nervously. “She’d love to have a chat, but, er, she’s up to her eyes in paperwork. Perhaps if you could make an appointment for next week?”

And over a century of being a cop prepared me for this next bit. “Climbing out of the window, ain’t she?” I asked.

“Yes, she is.”

The Doctor pushed the man aside. The room was empty. The Doctor and I ran to a window, myself already pulling out my phone to call the others.

I handed it to the Doctor. “Slitheen heading north.” He reported. Once he heard their replies he gave the phone back.

“Leave the Mayor alone!”

The secretary barely had hold of my arm before I pulled it off me. In a quick move, the man was on his knees with his arm twisted behind his back.

“Take self defense classes.” I advised. “That was pathetic.”

The two of us went after Blon. The disguised alien was already near the bottom of the ladder. 

“Margaret!” The Doctor called out in a sing-song. He was making his way down the ladder.

There was a faster way down. Not at all safe, but  _ faster _ . I carefully leaned over the balcony, plotting a way down.

“Oh, this is a poor life decision.” I murmured to myself.

Then I leapt off the balcony.

-immediately grabbing the scaffolding used by the cleaners. What? You didn’t think I’d really jump off the balcony!

I made quick work of climbing down the structure. It would be a good idea to start back up on my full exercise regime later. This was brilliant!

_ ‘Did you just jump off a balcony?’ _ The Doctor asked.

_ ‘As I’m not dead, you can mark that as a success!’ _

When my feet touched the ground I ran after Blon. The Slitheen was turning a corner. She must’ve seen the others coming around, cause she turned tail. She looked back behind her, which let her see my too wide smile and the Doctor’s fast downward climb.

I ran to Blon. The Slitheen saw me coming, running off after the 

“Who’s on Exit Four?” Jack shouted when he caught up with me.

“That was Mickey!” Rose answered, when the Doctor caught up.

Blon was getting away. 

“Here I am.” The man called out, stumbling on the sidewalk.

“Mickey the idiot.” The Doctor snarked.

“Oh, be fair. she’s not exactly going to outrun us, is she?” Rose asked.

Of course, right then was when Blon teleported away.

“She’s got a teleport!” Jack groaned. “That’s cheating! Now we’re never going to get her.”

The Doctor, Rose, and myself were grinning now.

“So pessimistic, Buttface.” I chided. “I know a guy who’s  _ really _ good at teleports.”

The Doctor took a step forward, holding up the sonic. With the enthusiasm of a nine year old boy, he lit it up. 

Blon came back. This time running  _ towards _ us. She quickly saw her mistake, running the other way before teleporting again.

Magoo brought her back. She was closer this time.

She ran away.

Magoo brought her back again. Closer, again.

She ran away again.

For a third time, the Doctor brought her back. Closest of all.

Blon gave up.

“I could do this all day.” The Doctor informed her.

“Please do. It’s hilarious.” I quirked up a happy smirk.

“This is persecution.” Blon hissed. “Why can’t you leave me alone? What did I ever do to you?”

“You tried to kill me and destroy this entire planet.” The Doctor answered.

“...apart from that.”

 

==CON==

 

We escorted the prisoner back up to her office.

“So, you’re a Slitheen, you’re on Earth, you’re trapped.” The Doctor recounted. “Your family get killed but you teleport out just in the nick of time. You have no means of escape. What do you do? You build a nuclear power station.” He motioned to the white playset on Blon’s long desk. “But what for?”

“A philanthropic gesture.” Blon lied. “I’ve learnt the error of my ways.”

“And it just so happens to be right on top of the rift.” The Time Lord warned.

“What rift would that be?” Blon asked, in complete fake innocence.

“A rift in space and time.” Jack explained. “If this power station went into meltdown, the entire planet would go!” He made a sucking explosion noise.

“No, it’s a  _ when _ . This station is designed to explode the minute it reaches capacity.” I corrected.

Rose gaped like a fish. “Didn’t anyone notice? Isn’t there someone in London checking this sort of stuff?”

Blon rolled her eyes, scoffing loudly. “We’re in Cardiff. London doesn’t care. The South Wales coast could fall into the sea and they wouldn’t notice.” The Slitheen in disguise blinked. “Oh. I sound like a Welshman. God help me, I’ve gone native.”

“But why would she do that? A great big explosion, she’d only end up killing herself.” Mickey asked.

Blon narrowed her eyes at him. The man flinched away. “ _ She’s _ got a name, you know.” She snapped.

“It’s Blon Fel-Fotch.” I stated. The Doctor and I were the only ones who could snap at Mickey like that. “You told us last time. Then there was Jocrassa Fel-Fotch, Sip Fel Fotch, Rhedden Fel Fotch. I don’t forget their names.”

But Blon was human enough now to be hurt by the names of her brothers. She was hiding it by pointedly looking anywhere I wasn’t.

“ _ She’s _ not even a  _ she _ , she’s a thing!” Mickey argued.

“We’re all  _ things _ .” I argued at him, snappy. “So shut your mouth!”

There we go. Balance restored.

“Oh, but she’s clever.” The a Doctor complimented. He took off the gray section of the model, rebelling colorful wires and buttons. “Fantastic.”

“Is that a tribophysical waveform macro-kinetic extrapolator?” Jack asked, eyes wide in childish excitement.

_ ‘Terra?’ _

_ ‘What do you want  _ now _?’ _

_ ‘Is that what this is?’ _

_ ‘Read books on the TARDIS. That’s  _ exactly _ what that is.’ _

“Couldn’t have put it better myself.” The Doctor agreed. He went back to observing the device.

“Oo, genius!” Jack pulled the device from the Doctor’s hands.

_ ‘Your companion’s a bit rude.’ _

_ ‘...pot meet kettle.’ _

_ ‘Oi! Name one time I was the least bit rude!’ _

_ ‘I can name  _ three _ , and that’s just from today!’ _

The Doctor sent me a small scolding look. He was mentally sending me laughter, so I didn’t take the look so seriously.

Though the laughter stopped.

Jack carried it over towards Blon. “You didn’t build this?”

The Doctor was looking over my head. There was a blank expression on his face.

“I have my hobbies. A little tinkering.”

“No, no, no. I mean, you really didn’t build this. Way beyond you.”

I followed his line of sight, already knowing what I’d see.

_ Blaid Drwg _ .

From the mental link, I could feel his head buzzing. He was connecting all the others.

“I bet she stole it.” Mickey guessed.

“It fell into my hands.” She hinted, not elaborating.

“Is it a weapon?” Rose asked.

Jack’s explanation (which reminded me of myself, which only made me prouder of him) of the device faded. The Doctor was asking me for help. 

_ ‘Where have you heard of Bad Wolf? _ ’ The Doctor asked.

_ ‘The bomb we stopped when we met Jack.’ _ I answered, maybe a bit too quickly.  _ ‘The drug we stopped Kyllan from trafficking was called ‘ _ lupus mallum _ ’. Then there was something about it on Satellite Five.’ _

_ ‘Bad Wolf channel.’  _ The Doctor answered. _ ‘And that boy, he painted big on the side of the TARDIS.’ _

“It’s a surfboard.”

“A pan-dimensional surfboard, yeah.”

_ ‘Where else?’  _ The Doctor asked. He was demanding the answer. It sounded more like he was encouraging me to think, to use my Time Lady brain to it’s fullest.

_ ‘I mean...I think I heard it in Van Statten’s museum.’ _ I thought.  _ ‘And when we saw Rose’s father, it was on a couple posters. When I was watching that caveman for a month, the rental car had the tag BAD WOLF.’ _

The Doctor grinned at me. It felt like getting a gold star.

“And it would’ve worked.”  _ ‘If not for you meddling kids!’  _ “I’d have surfed away from this dead end dump and back to civilization.”

“You’d blow up a whole planet just to get a lift?” Mickey gaped.

“Like stepping on an anthill.” Blon admitted.

“Funny thing, anthills.” I commented. “They bite back.”

Blon sneered at me.

The Doctor came up to my side. It was clear to me that he was coming to my defense. “How’d you think of the name?” The Doctor asked, stern faced.

This caught the attention of everyone else in the room. Rose looked between the Doctor and I, nervous now. 

“What, Blaidd Drwg? It’s Welsh.” Blon answered.

“I know, but how did you think of it?” The Doctor pressed.

“I chose it at random, that’s all.” Blon answered again. She eyed the sign, wondering what was so special. “I don’t know. It just sounded good.” She paused. “Does it matter?” And asked hopefully.

“Blaidd Drwg.” The Doctor sounded out.

“What’s it mean?” Rose asked.

“Bad Wolf.” I answered.

Rose blinked in recognition. “But I’ve heard that before. Bad Wolf. I’ve heard that lots of times.” Her voice shook slightly. She was remembering all the times we’d seen that name.

“Everywhere we go.” The Doctor went on. “Two words following us.  _ Bad Wolf _ .”

“How can they be following us?” Rose asked, voice shaking. 

The Doctor was silent for a long time. He could never do something that made Rose scared. I didn’t need to read his thoughts to hear the ‘ _should NOT_ _have said that’_.

“Nah, just a coincidence.” He brushed it off. “Like hearing a word on the radio then hearing it all day. Never mind. Things to do.”

_ ‘And I don’t like think of what those things are.’ _ I thought to myself. 

“Margaret, we’re going to take you home.” The Doctor went on. 

“Hold on, isn’t that the easy option, like letting her go?” Jack asked.

“I don’t believe it! We actually get to go to Raxa-” She paused, working her mouth around the work. The Doctor rolled his eyes so hard I thought they’d pop out. Then again, I did too. “Wait a minute! Raxacor...”

“Raxacoricofallapatorius.” The Doctor and I deadpanned.

“Raxacorico.” She fumbled again.

“-fallapatorius.” The Doctor finished for her.

“You’re annoyed, aren’t you?” Jack asked, elbowing my side.

“It’s a long word but not  _ that _ long!” I argued in my own defense.

“Raxacoricofallapatorius.” Rose gasped, beaming. “That’s it! I did it!” She flung her arms up in the air.

The Doctor matched her pose. The two of them met for a hug. A hug that made Jack and I exchange a glance of  _ ‘oh yeaaaaaah’ _ . Mickey started clapping for her, looking hurt that Rose hadn’t hugged him.

“They have the death penalty.” Blon revealed.

The words sucked away the joy in the room.

“The family Slitheen was tried in its absence many years ago and found guilty with no chance of appeal. According to the statutes of government, the moment I return, I am to be executed.” Blon explained. She looked challengingly at the Doctor. “What do you make of that, Doctor? Take me home and you take me to my death.”

“Not my problem.” The Doctor countered easily.

But I could see inside his head.

But I saw the future.

It was going to be a problem.

 

==CON==

 

Night had fallen. We were back inside the TARDIS. 

While we waited for the TARDIS to fuel up, I’d been finishing the  _ Prisoner of Azkaban _ . Or I was, until the Doctor told me to help connect the  _ ‘surfboard’ _ to the console.

_ ‘Can I read Harry Potter when I’m finished ‘helping’?’ _

_ ‘Only if I can read it too.’  _ The Doctor agreed.

_ ‘Get your own copy.’ _ I laughed. The book was tucked inside my Bag. The safest place for it, if I’m to be honest.

Somewhere along the way, I had Jack helping. The man had been near sulking in the pilot seat, watching me get to work on this thing. I had him there, mostly because he knew a lot about the thing. I’d read a book in the TARDIS library on them.

_ ‘A wise man lets the warrior with the sword fight the battle.’ _

The only part I disliked was that  _ he _ was getting a turn with the wires beneath the console. Apparently I was  _ ‘ready for that kind of tech’ _ . Magoo wasn’t ready for the kick I gave his shin.

“This ship is impossible. It’s superb.” Blon eyed the center console.

My hand itched to pull out my glock 19. “Stop touching things.” I ordered for what felt like the billionth time.

Blon held up her hands. She eyed me innocently. “How do you get the outside around the inside?” Blon asked the Doctor, pointedly avoiding me now.

“Like I’d give you the secret, yeah.” The Doctor snarked. He was still showing me which wires would connect the extrapolater to the console.

“I almost feel better about being defeated. I never stood a chance. This is the technology of the gods.” Blon went on. 

“Don’t worship me- I’d make a very bad god. You wouldn’t get a day off, for starters.” The Doctor instructed.

“Yeah. And sometimes they think you’re trapped in a meat vessel, and try to eat you.” I added. “I still can’t eat barbeque. It’s been decades, but burning flesh tends to stay with you.” Ignoring the look of horror from Rose and Mickey, I turned to my companion. “Buttface, how we doin’?”

He motioned to the pile of colorful wires. “This extrapolator’s top of the range. Where did you get it?” Jack directed that question to Blon.

“Oh, I don’t know. Some airlock sale?” Blon hinted.

“Must’ve been a great big heist.” Jack accused. “It’s stacked with power.” He clarified to us.

“But we can use it for fuel?” The Doctor asked.

“It’s not compatible, but it should knock off about twelve hours.” Jack admitted. “We’ll be ready to go by morning.”

“Then we’re stuck here overnight.” I half groaned. “What did I say about touching things?” I snapped.

Blon dropped the orb that was in her hand. It fell back on the console with a metallic clunk. “I’m in no hurry.”

“We’ve got a prisoner. The police box is really a police box.” Rose realized with a laugh.

“You’re not just police, though. Since you’re taking me to my death, that makes you my executioners. Each and every one of you.” Blon reminded us.

“Well,  _ you _ deserve it.” Mickey taunted.

“You’re very quick to say so.” Blon went on. “You’re very quick to soak your hands in my blood, which makes you better than me, how, exactly?”

What sucked, was that she made a good point.

Only my rush to get things done wasn’t because I wanted her dead, far from it. It was to move on beyond what followed. I didn’t want to see Nine die. He was my friend...it had only been a couple of months since I met him, and one of those months was spent with a caveman!

When Blon left, we’d be summoned to the Game Station which would be killing the Doctor. Jack would leave, but forced to not-die forever. He’d be so repulsive to Time Lord senses I wasn’t sure if  _ I _ would be able to stomach him anymore.

The Slitheen sat on the pilot seat. “Long night ahead.” She mused. “Let’s see who can look me in the eye.”

Mickey cracked first.

Rose as well.

The Doctor fell quickly.

Jack wasn’t even tested.

She came around to stare me down. Though she was using the eyes of the dead Margaret, all I could see was Blon. I saw a killer who saved herself over her family, and was living with that every day. I saw a woman who spared someone today, because that woman was having a family of her own.

There was a killer in those eyes.

But I stared back, full of empathy towards her.

Blon was the last to fall.

 

==CON==

 

Rose had gone off with Mickey to their ‘date’. She had told me earlier she was going to break-up with him. I wondered how that would go, since Mickey was doing the same.

The Doctor had been tense since Rose left. They’d been like that lately. Any more than one room apart, they’d start being snappy. It would be cute if they weren’t snapping at me.

Jack stood on his toes, trying to read what was on the screen. “So, what’s on?” Jack asked, breaking the ice.

The Time Lord switched off the screen. “Nothing, just.” He went back to looking at the progress of the rift charging our ship.

“I gather it’s not always like this, having to wait.” Blon spoke slowly. Her words seemed heavy in the empty air. “I bet you’re always the first to leave, Doctor. Never mind the consequences, off you go. You butchered my family and then ran for the stars, am I right? But not this time. At last you have consequences. How does it feel?”

“I didn’t butcher them.” The Doctor defended.

“You just gave her the power.” I warned in a sing-song tune.

“What?” Jack asked. 

“You talked back, which gives her space to talk about what she thinks will gain sympathy and mercy. Saw it all the time when I was a FED.” I explained. “By talking back, you’re giving her the power to control the conversation towards her goals.”

The Doctor gave me a defiant stare. “I didn’t.” As if to show me how wrong I was, he turned to the Slitheen. “What about you? You had an emergency teleport. You didn’t zap them to safety, did you?”

“It only carries one.” Blon answered. There was grief in her words. Well, as close to grief as a Slitheen could sound. “I had to fly without coordinates. I ended up on a skip in the Isle of Dogs.” The Doctor grinned. It got a small snort out of me. “It wasn’t funny.” Blon scolded.

“Sorry. It is a bit funny.”

“Isle of  _ Dog _ . Is there-”

“There aren’t any real dogs, no.”

“That’s stupid.”

“Do I get a last request?” Blon cut in on the merriment.

“Depends what it is.” The Doctor answered, simply.

“You did it again!”

“I grew quite fond of my little human life. All those rituals.” Blon explained while I slapped my forehead with my hand. “The brushing of the teeth, and the complicated way they cook things. There’s a little restaurant just round the Bay. It became quite a favorite of mine.”

“Is that what you want, a last meal?” The Doctor asked, disbelieving.

_ ‘Dead Storyline. The Doctor can never turn away someone who begs.’ _

“Don’t I have rights?” Blon challenged.

“Oh, like she’s not going to try to escape.” Jack reminded us.

“Except I can never escape the Doctor or Terra Johnson, so where’s the danger?” Blon argued. She rose up from her seat,no doubt about to go on a dramatic rant that would get our sympathies. “I wonder if you could do it? To sit with a creature you’re about to kill and take supper. How strong is your stomach?”

_ -one man tied to his chair. Neck opened. Blood all over his shirt. He had died screaming- _

_ -She was begging me not to take her daughter. “She’s only eight! Please no!” then they all died at their dinner table- _

_ -this one had been old. The blood was tainted. I had pushed her head in a boiling pot on the stove never had soup like this before- _

_ -The darkness loved when I begged. She didn’t stop. Never stopped.  _ **_So hungry..._ ** _ - _

“Strong enough.”

“Stronger than you.”

It occurred to me later that my voice was shaking. That my face had gone the slightest bit pale. That I’d rather go back to being starving all the time than eat anything.

_ ‘You’re not killing her.’ _ I told myself.  _ ‘Blon Fel Fotch will die not today. Not if I have any say.’ _

The Slitheen noticed my hesitance. She seemed to think of it as human weakness. “I wonder.” She mused. I glared back, standing my ground. “I’ve seen you fight your enemies, now dine with them.”

“I can do it.” I stated firmly.

“You won’t change my mind.” The Doctor swore.

“Prove it.” She challenged.

“There are people out there.” The Doctor explained. “If you slip away just for one second, they’ll be in danger.”

“Except I’ve got these.” Jack offered. He held up a pair of silver cuffs. 

“I’m gonna guess those do something, and you’re not showing off your new jewelry.” I teased.

Jack winked. “You’d be correct. both wear one. If she moves more than ten feet away.” Jack made a noise like a buzzer. Blon jumped. “She gets zapped by ten thousand volts.”

I  went for one of the bracelets. Jack held out the one I’m sure was the ‘jailer’s bracelet.

“Margaret, would you like to come out to dinner?” The Doctor was asking, completely unaware of what was happening behind him. “My treat.”

Blon grimaced at the idea of ten thousand volts running through her at  _ my _ behest. “Dinner in bondage. Works for me.”

“Let’s get going.” I clapped the bracelet on before Magoo could stop me. “Watch the kids while we’re gone, Buttface.”

Jack chuckled at me.

 

==CON==

 

The Doctor was  _ not _ happy that I ended up with the bracelet. Something about not wanting me to carry that responsibility.

He wasn’t given much say. He was my friend, but I was already wearing the bracelet. The key was in my pocket. The decision was made.

Blon showed us to the restaurant. It was a quaint bistro. They sat us at a four person table. The waitress gave the Doctor and Blon small glasses of wine. She gave me a glass of soda (damn me looking sixteen!). I looked over the menu, if only to keep my attention off Blon.

_ ‘Maybe if you behave they can give you the crayons. _ ’ The Doctor teased.

_ ‘There are a lot of jokes I could make about your age right now, but I’m not going to, because I need to be the mature person right now.’ _

_ ‘You can’t think of any, can you?’ _

_ ‘Not gonna comment.’ _

“Here we are, out on a date, and  _ you _ , Doctor, haven’t even used my proper name.” Blon remarked, interrupting our mental conversation.

“It’s not a date.” The Doctor corrected, angrily.

“It’s really not.” I agreed, gazing at the options on the menu. “And I’ve been calling you by your name all day.” I reminded.

Blon gave me a withering stare. “You have. I must admit, I’m a touch surprised you remembered.”

“I must admit, I told you earlier I remember all your names.” I copied her tone. “Now keep up.”

“It’s Blon.” She told the Doctor. She put down her menu. “I am Blon Fel Fotch Passameer-Day Slitheen. That’s what it’ll say on my death certificate.”

“In calligraphy, or Times New Roman?” I asked, flippant.

“Nice to meet you, Blon.” The Doctor smiled, in an almost friendly way.

“I’m sure.” She glared at me. She looked out the window. “Look, that’s where I was living as Margaret.” The Doctor and I reached our necks out to see. “Nice little flat, over there, on the top. Next to the one with the light on.”

I could barely see the apartment. I had to look around the Doctor’s back to get even a small look.

“Two bedrooms, bayside view. I was rather content. Don’t suppose I’ll see it again.” Blon mused.

The Doctor swapped my soda with Blon’s wine. I snorted at the annoyed look on Blon’s face. “Suppose not.”

Blon smiled in mock thankfulness “Thank you.”

The Doctor smiled back. “Pleasure.”

“Tell me then, Doctor, Miss Johnson.” Blon leaned down on the table, lowering her voice so none of the other tables could hear. “What do you know of our species?”

“Only what I’ve seen.” The Doctor admitted.

“May have seen a thing or two somewhere.” _ ‘Loved y’all in _ Sarah Jane Adventures _.’ _

“Did you know, for example, in extreme cases, when her life is in danger, a female Raxacoricofallapatorian can manufacture a poison dart within her own finger.” She pointed at me.

I grabbed the dart. “Seen it.” In further mockery, I tucked the dart in my hoodie pocket. Darcy would get a kick out of this later. 

“Just checking.” Blon chirped. “And one more thing. between us three.”

After a quick human check, the three of us leaned over the table.

“As a final resort, the excess poison can be exhaled through the lungs.” Blon started to exhale, only for the Doctor to spray breath freshener in her mouth. The woman coughed on it, but didn’t expel any poison.

“That’s better.” The Doctor cheered in delight. He got back to his menu. I got back to mine. “Now then, what do you think? Mmm, steak looks nice. Steak and chips.”

“Ooh. They’ve got _ pie _ .”

It was about then that the wait staff noticed I had wine in front of me.

_ Bugger. _

 

==CON==

 

“Public execution’s a slow death. They prepare a thin acetic acid, lower me into the cauldron and boil me.” Blon explained. So nice of her to say this before I got my pie, but after the replacement soda. “The acidity is perfectly gauged to strip away the skin. Internal organs fall out into the liquid, and I become soup. And still alive, still screaming.” She explained.

“We don’t make the law.” Explained the Doctor.

“But you deliver it.” The prisoner shot back. “Will you either of you stay to watch?”

“What else can I do?” He asked.

“The Slitheen family’s huge. There’s a lot more of us, all scattered off-world.” Blon went on. “Take me to them. Take me somewhere safe.”

“But then you’ll just start again, somewhere else.” I explained.

“I promise I won’t.” Blon begged.

“You’ve been in that skin suit too long. You’ve forgotten.” The Doctor told her. “There used to be a real Margaret Blaine. You killed her and stripped her and used the skin. You’re pleading for mercy out of a dead woman’s lips.”

Her eyes were watering just a bit. It was hard to tell if that was true emotion, or just some watering from the breath freshener. “Perhaps I have got used to it. A human life, an ordinary life. That’s all I’m asking. Give me a chance, Doctor, Miss Johnson. I can change.”

“I don’t believe you.” The Doctor stated.

Blon turned to me.

“I believe you.” I admitted, to their surprise. “But I don’t think you believe yourself.” Lifting my drink up, I took a slow sip. “That’s what’ll get you killed.”

 

==CON==

 

A few minutes had gone by. Blon was trying a new tactic.

“I promise you I’ve changed since we last met, Doctor.” Blon explained. There was a fond smile on her face. “There was this girl, just today. A young thing, no older than Miss Johnson, something of a danger. She was getting too close. I felt the blood lust rising, just as the family taught me, I was going to kill her without a thought.” She admitted honestly. “And then I stopped. She’s alive somewhere right now. She’s walking around this city because I can change. I did change. I know I can’t prove it-”

“I believe you.” The Doctor interrupted her.

“Then you know I’m capable of better.” Blon begged again.

“It doesn’t change anything.” I snapped.

“I spared her life.” Blon argued

“You let one of them go, but that’s nothing new.” The Doctor ranted. “Every now and then, a little victim’s spared because she smiled, because he’s got freckles, because they begged. And that’s how you live with yourself. That’s how you slaughter millions. Because once in awhile, on a whim, if the wind’s in the right direction, you happen to be kind.”

“Sometimes you just did it to play God.” I half spat. “Look at a person and go  _ I didn’t kill you today. I could have, but I didn’t _ . That makes you feel like you own them now. Sometimes you let someone else do it for you. Sometimes, you were just too  _ bored _ to  _ care. _ ”

Blon stared at me in a different light. The Doctor was much more subtle in his surprise. “Only killers would know that. Is that right?”

“Yes.” I admitted. “I’ve been around a lot longer than you think, Blon. You kill a person or to in that time. You learn how to hunt for the monsters hiding under human skin. You learn how to  _ be _ that monster. How do you think we found you?” I sneered dryly.

She paused. Apparently she hadn’t expected me to look her in the eye. “I don’t-”

“Oh please. You wanted to be found.” I rolled my eyes, leaning closer to her to glare her in the eye. “You kept the face.”

“Sorry?”

“All this time. You could’ve taken any other face, could have tossed Margaret out with the waste and left her to burn. You  _ wanted _ us to find you. You  _ wanted _ to be captured.”

“That’s just mad.” Blon laughed it off.

“Is it?” I challenged. “Then why keep her skin? There have to be dozens of other people in higher positions. We’re the only ones who know who you really are. You  _ knew _ we were still alive. Why else keep her face?”

Blon’s eyes darted around, going to the Doctor. “I thought you would have better control over the little one.”

“You’re not talking to him, you’re talking to  _ me _ .” I warned, keeping my voice level and low so no one else in the restaurant would notice. Blon gave me her attention back. “What’s your game plan?”

“Excuse me?”

“Your game plan. Why get our attention?”

“If I wanted your attention, I would have done better than half of my face on camera.” Blon snorted disdainfully.

“Unless you were waiting for the right time.” I argued. “Like for when it was too late to do anything.”

Blon leaned forward, glaring at me. “From what I’ve seen, your funny little happy go lucky little lives leave devastation in their wake. Always moving on because neither of you dare not look back. Playing with so many peoples lives, you might as well be gods.”

_ That _ caught my attention. I lowered my menu, glaring at the alien meat suit.

“And you’re right, Doctor, and Terra. You’re both absolutely right. Sometimes you let one go. Let me go.”

 

==CON==

 

The dinner was getting  _ dull _ .

Blon’s insistent begging was actually making me crave the near destruction of the planet. “In the family Slitheen, we had no choice. I was made to carry out my first kill at thirteen.”

_ ‘Darcy made her first kills at six. She murdered her parents in cold blood. She liked it.’ _

“If I’d refused, my father would have fed me to the Venom Grubs.”

_ ‘I helped Darcy clean it up. I’ve supported her all along.’ _

“If I’m a killer, it’s because I was born to kill.”

_ ‘Darcy-well, so was she. It’s the nature of a predator. No idle comments there. Am I really comparing my sister to a giant green alien?’ _

Thankfully it wasn’t much longer that I could finally hear the sounds of the world ending, in the far distance.

“It’s all I know. Are either of you even listening to me?” Blon asked, incredulous.

“Yes dear, that dress looks lovely.” I lied, straining my ear to the noise.

My fellow Time Lord was straining too. “Can you hear that?” He asked me.

“Yeah.”

“I’m begging for my life.” Blon reminded.

“Shut up.” I snapped. “Listen.”

That was when I knew Blon could hear it.

We ran out of the bistro.

 

==CON==

 

It was a fast paced run back to the TARDIS. The light was bigger and brighter the closer we were.

I had to stop at the bottom of the stairs for the other two. Blon was barely halfway down.

“The handcuffs!” Blon called out in a panic.

“I know! I’m waiting!” I snapped at her.

She came to the bottom. I quickly pushed the key in, unlocking out cuffs.

The bracelets were put in my hoodie pocket. “Don’t think about running away.” I warned.

Blon scoffed, a giddy smile. “Oh, I’m sticking with you. Some date this turned out to be!”

The Doctor and I near abandoned her to run for the TARDIS. There was a bright blue column of light coming out from the light bulb.

_ ‘I just changed the bulb!’ _ I mentally groaned. 

“It’s the rift.” The Doctor realized. “The rift’s opening!”

We ran to the TARDIS. 

The Doctor opened the door first. The room was lighting up in brief flashes of sparks. Jack was scurrying around, trying to find the problem.

“What the hell are you doing?” The Time Lord shouted.

Jack ducked to avoid more sparks. “It just went crazy!” He explained.

“It’s the rift!” I shouted over the chaos.

“Time and space are ripping apart. The whole city’s going to disappear!” The Doctor finished dramatically.

The three of us went to work trying to find the problem. I was flipping a useless switch, glaring at Blon. She was staring at everything with proud dark eyes.

“It’s the extrapolator.” Jack shouted suddenly. “I’ve disconnected it but it’s still feeding off the engine! It’s using the TARDIS. I can’t stop it!”

“Never mind Cardiff, it’s going to rip open the planet.” The Doctor warned us.

The door to the TARDIS opened wide. “What is it?” The human shouted in a panic. “What’s happening?!”

“Oh, just little me.” Blon replied. Her Slitheen arm came out from her human skin. The claw reached out for Rose.

“Rose!” I shouted. My arm reached her first, pulling the human away. 

The Slitheen grabbed me. Her arm pulled me close to the remains of the body. The arm tightened around my neck. All I could get out was a choking noise.

The Doctor looked at me in a panic. The Time Lord was barely able to catch Rose before she fell on the ground.

“Terra no!” Rose gasped. 

The three of them made to move towards me. 

“One wrong move and she snaps like a promise.” Blob threatened.

“I might’ve known.” The Doctor growled. He moved Rose behind him, and Jack.

Jack was looking at me with trepidation.  _ ‘You better know what you’re doing _ .’ He would be saying.

_ ‘I’m going to be fine!’ _ I thought to them both, though only the Doctor could hear me.

The Doctor didn’t answer. His eyes just stared daggers in Blon’s head.

“I’ve had you two bleating all night,  _ poor baby, _ now shut it!” She ordered. “You, fly boy, put the extrapolator at my feet.” She told Jack.

The ex-Time Agent narrowed his eyes at the name choice.

Blon tightened her hold on my neck. I couldn’t help the choking noise that came up. Jack and Rose turned to the Doctor, lost. The Doctor looked at me.

_ ‘Just do it already!’ _ I ordered.

The Doctor nodded.

Jack picked up the extrapolator. He put it down by Blon’s feet. It was too far out of my reach to be kicked.

“Thank you.” Blon beamed. Just as I planned.”

“I thought you needed to blow up the nuclear power station.” Rose asked, watching Blon’s arm on my neck like one watches a snake.

Blon “Failing that, if I were to be arrested, then anyone capable of tracking me down would have considerable technology of their own. Therefore, they would be captivated by the extrapolator. Especially a magpie mind like yours, Doctor.”

I started laughing, though it was a bit more forced when Blon tightened her hold on my neck. “So I was right. You  _ did _ want us finding you.”

Blon tsked. “Yes, yes, yes. The little  _ bird _ actually had an  _ idea _ . Good for you, you nuisance.”

Not gonna lie, I growled a bit at her insult. She held tighter at my neck to shut me up.

“So the extrapolator was programmed to go to plan B!” She gripped on my neck again. I growled out in frustration and just a bit of pain. The others flinched at the sound. “To lock onto the nearest alien power source and  _ open the rift _ .” Blon smiled evilly at the Doctor. The Time Lord appeared, for all intents and purposes, ready to kill Blon. “And what a power source it found. I’m back on schedule, thanks to you.”

“The rift’s going to convulse. You’ll destroy the whole planet.” Jack warned.

“And you with it!” She agreed with a gleeful hiss. While keeping hold of me, she put her feet on the extrapolator. “While I ride this board over the crest of the inferno all the way to freedom. Stand back, boys and girls. Surf’s up.”

The console was flashing the green-blue light in rapid fire. The TARDIS was sending me mental warning bells. Soon enough, the whole thing let out one more glow before side cracked open.

“Of course, opening the rift means you’ll pull this ship apart.” The Time Lord reasoned.

Blon scoffed. “So sue me.”

The Doctor didn’t let up. “It’s not just any old power source. It’s the TARDIS.” He looked at me, blue eyes full with meaning. “ _ Our  _ TARDIS. The best ship in the universe.”

I smiled at him.

“It’ll make wonderful scrap.” Blon sneered.

“Don’t you try it- _ uck _ !” The alien gripped tighter on my neck. 

“What’s that light?” Rose asked, voice shaking.

“The heart of the TARDIS. This ship’s alive.” The Time Lord explained. “You’ve opened its soul.”

“It’s so bright.” Blob remarked, looking inside.

“Look at it, Margaret.” The Doctor suggested.

“Beautiful.” Blon murmured.

“Look inside, Blon Fel Fotch.” The Doctor encouraged. “Look at the light.”

Blon did. Her arm around my throat loosened. Before I could take advantage to slip away, my eyes caught the light.

The light...it was such a  _ bright light- _

_ -running through fields of red grass- _

_ -using the silver leaves as flower crowns- _

_ -giggling as I stole a funny Time Lord’s floppy hat. He really should have known- _

_ -“But I don’t want to go to the Academy, Daddy!” “I’m not your father, I’m your mother, and it’s already been decided.” “I love you, Daddy.”- _

“Don’t look. Stay there.” The Doctor ordered from so far away. “Terra close your eyes!”

_ -after looking into the Schism, people helping me to my room. None of them looked too happy- _

_ -helping a boy cheat on his exams- _

_ -Rassilon demanding the Hybrid- _

_ -the Visionary’s crazy drawings and prophecies- _

_ “-mustn’t tell. I mustn’t tell. I mustn’t-” _

**_“The Bad Wolf is coming!”_ **

“Terra, look away!”

I did, with great effort. The little visions and feelings were fading, so I held on them  _ tight _ . My eyes felt wet, some cold tears leaking out on my cheeks.

The Doctor was shouting something overhead. It was impossible to hear of the roaring blood in my ears. My hearts were racing painfully in my chest, as if I had just run the original marathon. 

I knelt down to the ground, overwhelmed by the bits of memory I had back. The leaves were more breathtaking than the Doctor described on TV. I looked down at the metal grating, briefly confused as to why it wasn’t red grass with copper colored dirt. 

It was all such a  _ rush.  _ So many things running through my head, things that I didn’t even know could run.

_ What was the Hybrid? _

Then, I saw her egg. Blon’s egg. Surrounded by the flesh suit of Margaret. In a sort of haze, I pulled off my hoodie. I fell to my knees, carefully wrapping the oddly shaped egg inside it.

The outside world was coming back to focus for me.

“Nicely done. Thank you, all.” Someone chirped in delight.

_ -“Time Lords really do have bad tastes in hats.”- _

_ -“What happens if we get man flu?” “What a ridiculous question. Get back to your school work.” “But I’m curious!”- _

“What happened to Margaret?” A distant voice asked. It was familiar.  _ She _ was familiar. She was my...Mre Doctor...Carolina Rose.  _ ‘Right...yes...Rose Tyler. Good Rose.’ _

“Must’ve got burnt up. Carried out her own death sentence.” Another one spoke. He was familiar too. Why couldn’t I remember them so easily as I did before?

_ ‘That’s...In my head. Never dead. Giant head. Butt for a chin. Friend. Jack!’ _

“No, I don’t think she’s dead.” It’s somehow insulting that  _ he _ is the one I still remember.

“Then where’d she go?” Rose asked. “And is Terra okay?”

I brushed my fingers gently over the tendrils of Blon’s egg. The egg didn’t as much as shake. She was so small...

_ ‘I knew you’d be okay.’ _ I whispered to the egg.  _ ‘You’ll always be okay. I got you.’ _

Somehow, I felt the egg send me a smile. It was infectious.

“She looked into the heart of the TARDIS. Even I don’t know how strong that is.” The Time Lord went on. A part of me wanted to tell him to shut up, he was being distracting. Another part appreciated the moment with just my thoughts. “And the ship’s telepathic, like I told you, Rose. Gets inside your head. Translates alien languages. Maybe the raw energy can translate all sorts of thoughts.”

Pushing myself to me feet, I showed off I Blon’s egg. She was swaddled in my hoodie. “She’s good. I got her.”

Rose was in shock. “She’s an egg?”

“Regressed to her childhood.” The Doctor explained in a way that made him seem clever.

But Jack didn’t get it either. So it can’t have been that clever. “She’s an egg?”

Snapping my head towards them, I glared hotly. “She can start again. Live her life from the start.” I decreed, determined to see her live that life. “We are to take her home, give her to a different family, tell them to bring her up properly, she might be all right!”

“Or she might be worse.” Jack argued.

“That’s up to her, not us.” I told him, kindly.

“She’s an egg.” The Doctor’s companion repeated. 

“She’s an egg.” The Doctor and I agreed.

Rose gasped. “Oh, my God. Mickey.” She ran out after him, leaving us alone.

“Isn’t she just precious?” I asked the men once Rose left.

Jack snorted. “As cute as that baby crocodile you brought to the apartment.”

“He was so  _ tiny _ !” I cheered. “Like Blon!”

“He was  _ three feet _ !” Jack pointed out.

“Three feet of _adorable_ _crocodile_.” I reminded. “Now we’ve got-” A quick glance down to the egg to check. “-a foot of cute Raxacoricofallapatorian egg.” The egg sent me another mental hum. “Oh hello cutie.”

“Terra.” The man in leather began. “Are you alright?” He asked cautiously.

“No.” I giggled. 

The Doctor was suddenly at alert. He went to my side, kneeling down. He put his hand on my bare shoulder. “What’s wrong?”

My shoulder flinched away from the touch. It was barely a thought in my head before I was walking to the pilot seat. I fell back on it with a spring bounce.

“We’re taking her home, right Magoo?” I switched to another subject. My eyes hadn’t left the egg. My voice was soft, coming out in dreamy tones. “She needs to go to Raxacoricofallapatorius. It’s home.”

_ ‘Please. Let’s get her home.’ _ I asked.

The Doctor seemed hesitant to do anything. I looked to Jack for help.

“Better do it soon, Doctor.” Jack advised. “Terra gets attached fast to things with scales.”

“Oh stop it. Louis loved you too!” I admonished him.

“Yeah. Loved  _ biting me _ .” Jack corrected.

I snorted. The Doctor did too. “Probably not the first.” I teased.

Jack only smiled.

The Doctor gave me one more cautious look. My best assuring smile would be enough until later.

 

==CON==

 

I was finishing up reading the  _ Harry Potter _ book to Blon, when Rose came back.

“Look!” I lifted the egg up. “Auntie Carolina is back!”

Rose grimaced, but it turned to a cheeky grin. “Don’t tell me you’re keeping  _ her _ . First the pig-”

“Don’t call the Doctor a pig.” I scolded to Rose’s delight. Magoo rolled his eyes at me. “There’s an impressionable child in the room.”

Rose snorted at my antics. “We’re not letting her stay, right?”

Magoo-or as I now call him the Traitor-shook his head. He gave me a big teasing grin. I narrowed my eyes at him, crossing my arms over my chest.

“Oh quit your pouting.” The Doctor chided. I stuck my tongue out at him. They all laughed.

“I told you she gets attached fast.” Jack pointed out.

“I didn’t think it was _ that _ fast!” Magoo defended. 

“Should I be worried?” Rose laughed. I was still cuddling with the egg.

He turned to his companion. “No more than usual. We’re all powered up. We can leave. Opening the rift filled us up with energy. We can go, if that’s all right.”

“Sooner the better.” Rose mused. “She’s not lettin’ Margaret go.”

“How’s Mickey?” I asked, changing the subject.

“He’s fine, yeah. He went back home.” Rose answered.

The Doctor grinned. “Off we go, then. Always moving on.”

“Next stop, Raxacoricofallapatorius.” Jack reported from the console. “Now you don’t often get to say that.”

“We’ll just stop by and pop her in the hatchery.” I explained to Rose. “Blon Fel Fotch Slitheen can live her life again.” I looked down at the cute egg. “A second chance...without us...”

The three of them laughed. “TJ, you know what they say about setting things free.”

I pouted. “But I don’t love her _ ,  _ so it’s  _ fine _ -”

They laughed again. 

I kept Blon in her hoodie swaddling the rest of the way. 

 

==CON==

 

Hours later, we had everything fixed up. The console had been repaired from all the damage Blon had caused.

“Jack, Rose.” I used their real names, gaining their attention. Doc, Rose, and Jack looked at me with worry. “Can you give the Doctor and I a minute?”

The humans looked warily to the Doctor. He nodded.

“Yeah. I can handle her.” The Doctor joked.

Jack gave me a questioning look. “Terra, is everything-”

“I just need a minute.” I asked. “Then could we maybe meet in my room? I need to show you something.”

My companion stared at me for a moment more before giving me a reassuring nod. He followed Rose out, giving me one last look to tell me he’d wait for me in my room.

The Doctor turned to me as soon at the humans were out of sight. “Terra, what is it?”

“The grass was red, and the sky was orange.” I breathed, voice a whisper. “You never told me how beautiful the sunset was.”

The Doctor paused in his steps. His eyes widened, though he kept his face stern.

“And the leaves were silver, but in autumn they’d turn gray like storm clouds and they would sing in the breeze. I used to jump in the big piles of gray, like I was in the eye of a storm. I’d hum with the songs, sometimes adding in words.” I felt my eyes get hot tears. “The important cities had glass domes, like  _ bigger on the inside _ snow globes.”

The Doctor gaped. “You saw Gallifrey?”

“I looked in the light for just a few seconds, just a few.” I assured. My eyes glanced to the spot where the light had shined. “And I only saw bits and pieces, some I can’t remember any more. Some I can’t forget. And I don’t want to lose what little I have now.” I admitted, feeling my chest ache as I recalled the beautiful world. “Red grass, orange sky, silver and gray musical leaves, snow globe city, and...and these things that are  _ so small _ no one even  _ thinks _ about but I can’t bare to forget a second time.”

“You won’t.” The Doctor walked the rest of the way up to me. He pulled me in for a hug, and my first instinct wasn’t to run but to hug him back. “We’ll get the rest back, Terra, I promise.”

As tears welled up in my eyes, I knew there wasn’t much chance for it.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN: Oh god it’s happening. This story is almost done. Oh my! There are 3 chapters left. The next one is a short chapter, emotional though. Then we get to Bad Wolf! Oh, that one’s gonna hurt. I promised.
> 
> I’ve been on vacation for a month. My 2017 has been shitty, putting it mildly. Getting away from it all has really helped. I’m not gonna say I’m cured, but I’ll say it was relaxing. I think I got some self confidence back.
> 
> Congrats to Jodie Whittaker for being our 13th! For any haters, give the girl a break! I, for one, am tired of seeing us repeat this cycle. People left when Smith became 11 because ‘he’s too young. I want David back!’ People left when Capaldi came because ‘he’s to old eww! Give us the cute ones back!’ Can we not have this much hate? Give the woman more than a small clip before fucking her over.


	17. The Crying Time Lady

There was something relaxing about Jack knowing my powers, as I have said before.

One great thing was that I could have him in my bedroom, knowing we wouldn’t be having sex.

He had been sitting on my bed. He was squished under Hero’s bunk. It was heartwarming to see. “Bunkbeds? Really?”

“Mahina loved them.” I answered, letting the door close behind me.

“Mahina Jookiba, right?” Jack asked.

“Yeah.” Sitting on my bed, I pushed him away with a bump of my hip. I had told him about Mahina earlier. It was freeing to not have to cleverly explain her away. “She’s why I wanted to talk.”

My companion took what I said in stride.

“I loved that place. Hero always got the top bunk. You know they have a  _ Gideon’s Bible _ ? I call it  _ Hero’s Bunk _ . He loved climbing up the ladder, like a little red koala. I remember being so mad at my brothers whenever I saw them on the top bunk. My parents could never figure out why got me so worked up.” I reminisced. My wistful smile turned to a protective growl. “Don’t you dare think about touching it.”

Jack held up his hands. “Yes ma’am.” He got up to his feet, leaving me alone on the bunk. “How long has it been for you since you saw them?”

“One hundred forty-three years.” I answered.

Jack whistled. He gave me a once over. The teasing was already in his blue eyes. He was preparing for an  _ attack _ at my age. 

“Don’t think about it, Buttface.” I warned, in the same way a sister warms a brother about climbing a tree.

The two of us laughed. It let off the stress that I hadn’t known was creeping up my back.

My attention went to the homebox. It had not moved from desk since it’s first night on the TARDIS.

Jack knew about it too. 

“Have you looked inside it yet?” He asked, voice calm, curious, but also reassuring.

“It’s hard. Emotionally.” So that’s a no. “I was 37 when I lost them...practically a kid. I’ve...been a lot of people since then. This is like...”

“Like facing your past?” Jack asked.

“Yeah.”

“It’s okay. Take your time, TJ.” Jack gave me his patented grin. His hand brushed on my back. The hoodie was gone, a blanket for Blon, so all I had was the black tank top. “I’m not going anywhere. Neither are they.”

_ ‘They’re exactly where I abandoned them all those decades ago.’ _

“Boyfriend cancelled a date?” My words were soaked by the tears in my throat.

Jack noticed my deflection. He played along, though probably to help me relax. “Girlfriend, actually.”

“Ah.”

“She brought me into her bedroom.” My companion went on. “Apparently she hasn’t done that before. I thought it was a  _ big deal _ , but nope. She wants to show me a  _ box _ .”

“She sounds dangerous.”

“Oh she’s a teddy bear.”

I punched his arm. 

“Come on.” He bobbed his head at the box. “You need this. No point in dragging in on any further.”

“Maybe I wanted to talk about something else.” The words were forced out, coated in the old hurt I was feeling as new.

Jack knew that. He tilted his head, blue eyes glinting with this face of knowing. “Terra. You need the closure. There are a lot of things from my past that I  _ still _ have no idea about. If  _ one _ of us can get answers, I say we  _ find them.” _

Hating the idea of arguing with Jack, I pulled up a seat at the desk. My companion was satisfied with the results. Jack stood by the bunk bed, leaning against the side. Though he was standing away, it felt as comforting as a hand on the shoulder.

Before I could regret it, I pressed the activation button.

The letters on top glowed bright green. It hummed as old gears and wires kicked in gear. There was a flickering noise from the top as the projector tried to turn itself on.

An image popped up. It was from inside the old ship. Somehow, Pleakley had been in charge of decorating. Don’t ask  _ me  _ how he managed  _ that _ . Sometimes it was better not to question it. He had chosen to color the inside walls a bright Hawaiian sunset orange. The carpets were a grassy green. The bits and pieces of furniture were all a milky off-white.

But, the person in front of the image wasn’t Pleakley. She was twelve, if I made this when I remembered. Her hair was an inky looking shade of black. It was pulled back behind her head in a ponytail, which was resting over one of her shoulders. She was wearing a black and white tank top, with a red and black plaid jacket. It was covered in grease and alien oil stains. Her own skin, a dark golden brown tan that had graced her skin since birth, was not left unmarked of the grease. Her eyes, were my own shade of amber.

Mahina Jookiba was staring at the screen with a face of business. A job to be done. 

_ “If you’re watching this, then you’re...well...me. Or Pops.” _ My old face explained to the camera.  _ “Hey Pops, hey future me. Hope you finished that paper. Professor Taylor is mad at us for the last one.” _

I paused the clip. “I constantly corrected his lectures.” “He hated it. It wasn’t my fault that he couldn’t find protons in sodium if they bit him in the ass.”

“You’re kidding me. My TJ, a rebellious student?” Jack chuckled in what was obviously sarcasm. “But you’re such an angel.”

“Shut it, Harkness. You were probably  _ flirting _ with your teachers.”

He grinned, easily. “Hey, they weren’t complaining.” Jack excused. 

_ “Anyway, here’s the Homebox. Don’t break it. I put a lot of work into this!”  _ My past self continued on.  _ “Also, fix my ship!” _

_ “Your ship?” _ A deep voice asked.

My eyes immediately watered. I gasped in acute pain.

Jack put a comforting hand on my shoulder. My hands joined together, making a fist in my lap. My head bowed to my chest, letting some of my hair fall. 

_ “Yeah, my ship. Why?” _

_ “It was my ship first!” _

_ “Oh, I’m sorry Pops. How many times have you rebuilt her?” _

_ “Twice-” _

_ “I did it twelve!”  _ Mahina argued.  _ “So she’s my ship!” _

_ “Twelve? That cannot possibly be right!” _

_ “Once after it crashed with you, twice because of the crop circles, then there was the bed and breakfast you built inside-” _

The message ended. There was no other fond farewell. No chance of seeing my most beloved father. Already memories of that day filled me like a flood. The camera had been turned off by me, so Pops couldn’t change the video. 

A screen popped up. There were links written in an alien language. One of them opened blueprints of the ship. There was the flight plans. There’d be one for the most recent.

But my head refused to move up.

It would tell me nothing I didn’t already know. That the last flight had ended in a crash. Any footage would show a much older Mahina, in the other pilot seat would be Hero. It would show us flying. Then it would show us  _ crashing _ .

It wouldn’t show that I woke up, ten years old again. It wouldn’t show how scared I was to see my skin was a freckled white instead of a clear tan. It wouldn’t show how loud I screamed those months after, with Hero’s screams ringing in my head or seeing my own blood pour out over my hands.

It would just show a spaceship crash. It wouldn’t change anything. None of them were here. I don’t know why I expected anything. It was nothing but the dream of a stupid child.

There was a long silence left behind.

“We’re going to leave you behind.” The words flew out of my mouth, powered by my racing hearts.

The air tensed. The sad tension. This kind of build up you see before the  _ big _ fights. 

“We just leave you. He didn’t even look back at you. He’s just gone.” I was rambling. It was making me feel worse. Instead of a freeing release from my secrets, I felt crushed by betrayal. A general rule of thumb about time travel was you should never tell someone their future. “I don’t want to leave you there. I don’t want you to live that Jack’s life. It wasn’t good. You weren’t okay. I want you to be okay-”

Jack pulled my chair away from the desk. My breathing rushed. There was a sinking feeling in my chest, like my hearts had decided to cave in on themselves. It felt useless. This was useless. Jack was a stubborn man, he would go through all of this anyway. There was no chance of saving him.  _ I can’t lose another friend. Not like I lost Hero. I can’t. _

“TJ, calm down. I’m right here, okay? I haven’t  _ left _ you. I’m not  _ gonna _ leave you.”

“You’ll leave-You’ll be angry at us.” My words were collapsing to whimpers. Everything was falling apart. What was the point of it?

“Not at you.”

“Don’t tell me that. Don’t lie to me like that.” I hissed at him.

“I’m not lying!” Jack defended himself.

“It’s horrible. And  _ bloody _ .”

“So is my past.”

“It doesn’t have to be your future. I don’t want it to be your future. Please...I can’t lose you too! Not like I lost Hero!”

Jack pulled me in for a hug. Tears were falling down my face, soaking his shoulder. It felt like Time was falling apart in my hands like wet paper. I hated it. I hated  _ this _ . No wonder the Doctor was so depressed all the time.

The only sounds in my room were my quiet sobs.  _ ‘They only cry silently when they can’t stop.’ _ There was a long time spent just standing there, whimpering. No doubt the Doctor would be curious about why Jack was in my room so long. It didn’t matter. I was sure to _ lie _ like I  _ always _ do.

“My sister was wrong.” My words warmed his shirt, drying some of my tears. “When she said I have no sense of home. I  _ know _ what home feels like.”

Jack paused before answering. “And?” He was trying not to sound hopeful. It didn’t work.

“And it feels like I’ve just gotten it back.” My bottom lip trembled again. Another wave of tears were coming. “Please don’t take leave me, Jack. I can’t...I can’t lose my home again.”

Jack didn’t say anything to that. His hand brushed down on my head. His other arm held me tighter in the hug.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh come on that is a perfect title! I’m basing it off this lovely scene with Mary and John in The Lying Detective, mostly cause my friend doesn’t hate me enough for that season.
> 
> EIGHTY FOLLOWERS. SEVENTY FAVORITES. THANK YOU EVERYONE!
> 
> I’m going to a new college. I have jobs. Writing’s great. Sorry, I’ve been pounding the pavement on this writing all weekend! I’m relieved to have it all done!
> 
> HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME!
> 
> Just a reminder. If you want updates on what I’m writing, go to my tumblr page: authora97 writing updates


	18. Bad Wolf

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Terra plays a deadly game with the worst of consequences.

**AN: You will all hate me, this is a fact. Or at least it’s this writer’s dream.**

**==CON==**

 

There was cold metal on my face.

Not an odd way to wake up as of late. The Doctor’s dragged his companion and mine into some weird situations. Then again, sometimes I ran into them first. Can I really be blamed for that stuff? I don’t think so.

My head felt odd. Not in the way of metal on face. My head felt as if I had  _ run _ into the metal, repeatedly. There was some ringing noise. I could hear the blood rushing in my ears. My two hearts _ -since when did I have those? _ \- were pounding at my chest in a way that should have been painful.

I tried to push myself to my feet. For some reason, I was sluggish. Had I just woken up early? Storyline I hope not. After yesterday- _ what happened yesterday?- _ I needed my beauty sleep.

Memories were trickling back. More who, where, how, why. Not in any order that  _ helped. _

A man walked up to my side. He a lean man, with light brown hair. He was wearing a headset, and had a clipboard in his hands.

“Alright. Let’s get you ready for camera.” He waved over some ladies. They held makeup brushes, and kits.

There was something I didn’t like about this. I couldn’t remember what.

I tried to push the women away. They pushed back. They started putting makeup on my face. All in all, it was horrifying.

“Where am I?” I growled at the man. 

“It’s alright. It’s just the transmat.” He instructed, in a way that said he had done this a hundred times before. “It’s messes your head up. What’s your name?”

“ _ Where am I?” _

“Come on, sweetheart, play along. What’s your name?”

“None of your business!” I shouted as the makeup ladies put makeup around my eyes. It was awful and disgusting. It felt like wet clay had been slapped on my face.

He sighed. The makeup ladies finished with me, walking away. It was a small relief. “Okay, fine. What’s the last thing you remember?”

“Jack.” I admitted. Then I paused, wondering. Had the last thing really been sitting in my room crying over my ghosts? “We...we had just...”

No...wait...they were coming back. Slowly. Surely.  _ Achingly. _

“Blon. We took her home.”  _ ‘Myself, crying silently. Jack squeezing my shoulder. The Doctor watching. Rose smiling, bumping her hip against the Doctor’s so he would smile.’ _ “I was upset. So the Doctor-” _ ‘I have a nickname for that bastard. What was it?’ _ “-took us to World War II Japan. It’s a favorite of...of mine?”

The man nodded along as if it were normal. “See? It’s coming back. Let’s get you on your mark.”

We had been in the TARDIS. Right? Yes. I had been anxious as we left. Because...because something was coming. I  _ knew _ something was coming. Something bad... _ Something bad, happening in Oz. Under the surface, behind the scenes, something bad... _

What was going to go wrong?

No. Wrong question.

What had  _ already _ gone wrong?

He pushed me towards this walkway. At the end of it was a large door, where I could see an auditorium. The room was lit in golden orange, with roaming spotlights.

A new man, with dark auburn hair and deep brown eyes, in a suit walked up to the center of the room, to a clear table. He looked up at what I assumed was a camera.

“Welcome...to _ Deal or No Deal!” _

 

==CON==

 

“It’s me, Greg Soo Hoo.” He announced.

My mind could be described as blown. I chose to say it had been fucked by what was happening. Bit by bit, I was remembering everything. 

The episode came back with startling clarity.  _ Bad Wolf. Game Station. Daleks. Rose. Doctor dying. JACK! _

I froze. No...not Jack...it couldn’t have happened so soon.

“Now, I know everyone is excited. I’m excited too. This is a special episode! Our contestant is a  _ Lady _ . But there are some other ladies that need introduction. Ladies, please.”

Off the stage, fifteen androids walked down a set of stands.

The androids all stopped.

“Hello ladies.”

“Hi Greg.”

“Okay. They’re beautiful, the amount of credits we have is beautiful, sit down. We need someone to try and take them home. How do we do it? Let’s get our first contestant,  _ Terra Johnson!” _

The producer pushed me out of the walkway. The animatronic clapping had been turned on for the fake audience.

“Well you’re here. Tell us a bit about yourself.” Soo Hoo requested.

“Is there something I can break?” I growled.

Soo Hoo laughed mechanically. “You’re hilarious!” He stopped, smiling too wide to be true. “Go on. Share.”

I glared. My head was still hurting, but it would be totally fine with bashing the android in half. 

Soo Hoo fidgeted under the harsh glare. “G-go on. It’s safe here. Just...introduce yourself.”

I glared harsher.

Soo Hoo shrunk back. He coughed awkwardly. “Well. Um. I’ll just...” He coughed again. He out on a bright smile for the camera. “This is  _ Lady Terra Johnson.  _ Tell us a bit more about yourself!”

“No.”

“Just.” Soo Hoo huffed in frustration. He looked down at his shoes to compose himself. After he did, he looked up at me. “Just start with a hobby, or your job.”

“I like breaking stuff. Will your bones do?” I stated coldly.

Soo Hoo didn’t like that much more.

“We’ve got fifteen ladies holding fifteen lovely cases. Each of those fifteen cases holding a random person from your life.”

My burning glare turned into shock. My stomach was spinning in disgust. Neither of my hearts could decide if they wanted to stop or race.

“You just have to click the Deal or No Deal buttons to decide who’s gonna live, and who’s gonna die.” The announcer explained. “Though, if they don’t die, you do. The value of the case depends on how much  _ you  _ value the person inside.” Soo Hoo gestured to a large screen.

“You’re putting credits on random people’s lives?” Came my disgusted hiss.

“No. We’re putting them on your family’s lives.” Soo Hoo countered.

“I don’t have a family.” I insisted coldly.

“We know better.” Soo Hoo countered, looking to the large screen.

“There are four set values. Low values are worth 100 credits, you have seven of them.” Over by the androids, seven random boxes turned green. “Medium values are worth 200 credits, you have five of those.” Five yellow colored boxes came up, scattered about with the green. “High values are worth 500 credits, and there are  _ two _ .” Two orange boxes.

“That’s fourteen.” I stated, coldly.

“That’s because the last case has the most  _ worth _ . The Love Value.” A single red box appeared. I watched the box. A shiver ran up my spine. “That’s whoever you care about the most.”

An image flashed in my mind.

_ Darcy _ .

“That person’s worth 1,000 credits.”

_ You’d kill my sister and then give me a thousand credits? I’ll stab you a thousand times! _

“If you pick everyone except your Love Value, you’ll have made 2,700 credits! And you get to keep your Love Value!” Soo Hoo explained, as if that was my concern here.

“That’s still fourteen people dead!” I snapped.

Soo Hoo pouted patronizingly. This man was  _ asking _ to have his neck snapped. “Shuffle the colors!”

All at once, the green, yellow, orange, and red starting flashing. They changed from one color to the next in rapidfire. Not even my Time Lady eyes could stare at it for long, a headache coming up the longer I stared.

When it calmed down, the boxes were all gray and had black numbers on the front. I stared at them all in concern. The androids cold robotic faces weren’t helping matters.

“Now. Choose one case. So, which case?”

I couldn’t do this. Who knows who they had picked, who from this time would actually die. The only other three people they could use were in other games, Darcy was in Rose’s time Torchwood Three, I seriously doubt they’d include a pig in this game, and the other three were dead. Had they chosen random people to balance it out? Were fourteen strangers going to die today because of my decisions?

“When I get out of this game-” My eyes narrowed on Soo Hoo. He wasn’t phased by my expression. “I’m killing you _ first _ . I pick number 9.”

Soo Hoo smiled, all his troubles had just melted off his shoulders. “ _ Finally! _ ”

 

==CON==

 

Soo Hoo’s troubles came back  _ real _ fast.

Not only was I refusing to pick another case, I was  _ constantly _ nearly swearing. The Doctor’s fond nickname for me was coming on in full force.

“Miss Johnson you just need to pick _ one _ -”

“Now hold on you mother-”

“ _ Please _ don’t swear, Miss Johnson. I’ve told you already-”

“Someone not listening to you? Wow I wonder what  _ that’s _ like, you son of a-”

“Just say a number! Any number!”

“How about letters? F and-”

“ _ Stop swearing! _ ”

It was the most entertainment I’d ever had in a hostage situation.

“Give me a  _ reason _ to stop swearing,  _ Soo Hoo _ .” I challenged. Soo Hoo expression darkened. “Let those people go. I doubt you’ve actually found anyone I could care for. My family’s all dead. This is just your pathetic show trying to get a rise out of people, definitely a ratings boost. I’m  _ not _ picking a number just so you can kill a random person.”

The man’s dark brown eyes shrunk down on me. Instead of the anger that I wanted, it was a distressing smile that reminded me of a demented clown.

“I heard the number four!” Soo Hoo cheered with too much enthusiasm. He motioned to the large collection of androids.

The clapping track played again.

“No!” I shouted. “I didn’t say that! Don’t-”

An android opened the case with the number four on it. 

My hearts dropped at the name inside.

_ ‘Hero Jookiba’ _

“Hero.” The word came out like a whimper. “No, not Hero. What...how did... _ what are you- _ ”

Soo Hoo smiled evilly. “I think you already know, Miss Johnson.”

A piece of ice made home in my chest, spreading out as I stared at the screen with watery eyes. I don’t think I could watch it again...

A viewing screen came up. In horror, a familiar red spaceship appeared. The sight was bittersweet, as it zoomed in on the pilots. There was the sound similiar to a phaser from _ Star Trek  _ going off.

“ **NO!** ” I screamed, leaping at Soo Hoo. He sidestepped, causing me to fall to the ground. I leapt back up to my feet, clawing in his direction. “SON OF A BIT-”

“No swearing, Miss Johnson.”

_ “STOP THIS!” _ I shouted.

On the screen, the ship suddenly _ tilted _ after being hit. The two passengers were panicking. 

Soo Hoo was cleverly avoiding my attacks. I clawed and scratched and came at him with all I had. I screamed at him, just shouting without words.

He leaned down towards me after my last attack. I had fallen to the floor, and was becoming tired. “It’s too late, Miss Johnson. You know that. Hero Jookiba will die, and it will be all because of  _ you. _ ”

I glared at him, and for the first time in thirty years I wanted to tear someone to shreds.  _ ‘Nonononono.’ _ The word kept replaying in my mind, alongside the last normal conversation I had with Hero.

The rest was a blur. I watched the screen, unable to look away. None of the words were getting through to me, in one ear and out the other. I watched the red spaceship crash land in a horrifying crashing of the waves of the pacific.

My whole world drowned with them.

 

==CON==

 

Soo Hoo stood by the table with the buttons. “There are still thirteen cases left, four for this round. ”

“Don’t touch my family!” I shouted. “Leave them alone you-”

“No swearing, Miss Jo-” He chided.

_ “Quit calling me that!” _ I screamed with hot tears. “Just stop it! He didn’t-He doesn’t-”

More tears poured from my cheeks, my throat was tight and unable to get out the words. My hand covered my mouth, to keep sounds of pain from being overbearing. I sunk to the ground, feeling defeated and overwhelmed.

“He shouldn’t have died. You _ shouldn’t _ have killed him. It’s not...it shouldn’t...it doesn’t make sense.”

Soo Hoo pouted patronizingly again. 

“I suppose I should be honest with you, Miss Johnson.” He shrugged. “The Banker, a Mister  _ Logan _ , wants to tell you what he’s done _ for now _ . He’s a showman, you see, and a  _ big  _ fan of your work. He would _ love _ to play this game to the end, to watch you kill your friends one by one. Guess it’s more fun to watch it _ live _ .” Soo Hoo explained. I glared up at the announcer. “You’re probably wondering how he could make a deal with the Lords and Masters. Or, how he could kill  _ ‘Hero Jookiba’ _ .”

“Yes.”

“The answer’s simple. He knew you were here, the same way you knew you’d be here.” My hearts stopped. Soo Hoo grinned victoriously. “Ah. Putting it together, are we?”

“No...no he can’t...he can’t be like me-”

“Oh, but he is, Miss Johnson. He’s one of the worst.” Soo Hoo knelt down to my side. “He’s put a lot of work into this special. I’d be impressed if I were you.”

“The footage...from the ship.” I realized. My brain was straining as too many horrible pieces came together. “It was him. He’s why the homebox was in Russia.  _ He  _ crashed my ship...he killed Hero...Oh sweet Merciful Storyline...”

“Such a smart cookie.” Soo Hoo tapped on my forehead. In the back of my mind, I wondered why I didn’t push him away. It took me a second to realize I must be going into some kind of shock. “Yes, you and Garfield Logan have a complicated history. Older and more complicated than most BBC plotlines.”

This was making me sick. The idea that someone...someone with  _ my powers _ ...the connection I’ve been searching for  _ centuries _ ...that he was this cold.

Distantly, I felt Soo Hoo’s hand move from my head to my arm. He pulled me up to my feet. It was about then that I started fighting back. I tried to kick him but he attacked first. He kicked my shin the same way you’d kick a soccer ball if you’d been missing all day. The pain shot through me. That was going to bruise later. Or maybe it was broken? I couldn’t tell. He used the shock to force my hand against the button that read _ ‘Deal’ _ .

There was a bright  _ flash _ .

You know that feeling when you’re pushed into a pool? Or, when there’s an unexpected turn on a rollercoaster? There’s this swirling feeling in your head. You can’t seem to focus on anything, even if you could it was too blurry. Your stomach shakes inside of you, wanting to spit your lunch back up. That’s what this was.

Or maybe it was like watching  _ Wizard of Oz _ . The bright clashing colors of Munchkinland hurting your eyes, after spending so long in sepia tones of Kansas. Then going  _ back _ to the black and white, in a rapid sequence that never seemed to stick to a specific pattern.

“It’s funny, you see. On occasions I get too close. It’s my fault, really. Something about you just makes me want to be _ closer _ .” He hissed in my ear. “So I have to clean up my messes. Problem is, you’re so damned  _ paranoid _ ! You wouldn’t trust your own sister with a job unless she told you  _ every detail _ of it. I don’t have much chances to get to you.  _ This _ was my best chance, do you see that? You’d think your own biology would have made you forget, that crossing your own time line business, but no. You just  _ had _ to be the odd one. I  _ have _ to make you forget me, so I can start this game _ fresh. _ I just love  _ The Big Game _ , don’t you?”

_ ‘Holy shit...this man is insane.’ _

“That’s it, that’s it, Terra Two, just relax. Open yourself up to it. And when you wake, Garfield Logan will only be an echo of a memory.” Garfield Logan beamed. He lowered me down to my knees. My body felt distant, vague.  _ ‘Did I eat one of Marshall Erikson’s sandwiches again?’ _ “You won’t remember the game, or Hero, why I’ll be surprised if you remember those texts I sent you so long ago.”

My mouth opened and closed, struggling to get words out. My mouth felt numb. My head spiked in pain, worse than an ice cream headache or a too loud rock concert. My brain felt too hot. Things were whisping away before I could see their shape. What was happening? What...what was...

Garfield Logan leaned closer. His dark brown eyes filled with a spin shivering delight. “Would you like to see a magic trick, Terra Two?”

I could only look at him with watery eyes.

He walked closer, until his lips were against my ear. “Why are you running?”

I tried to think through this fog. The memory, which felt so fresh earlier, vanished. There was a blanket over it. I remembered  _ Eleven _ and  _ Oswin _ and  _ dying _ but then... _ nothing. _

“Who are you running  _ from? _ ”

_ Nothing. No one. _

_ ‘No...that’s not right...I  _ know _ who he is...this is him...Frosted Flakes...the Tiger... _ Garfield Log-’

_ ‘...what was I just thinking about? Where is the ‘recently closed tabs’ button in this thing? Must not be that important if I can’t remember...’ _

The man chuckled, backing away from the desk. “Yes. I didn’t want any more trouble out of you.”

“ _ You _ ?” I squeaked. A hot tear fell down my cheek. 

“None of your concern now, Terra Two. Just rest. You know that old Jimmy Neutron special, where they told the kids to _ ‘eat and forget _ ’? Just do that.  _ Rest _ and _ forget. _ ”

Though I wanted not to, my eyes were starting to close. “No...I’ll remember...this time.” I mumbled.

The announcer laughed. He dropped his voice low, like a conspiratorial whisper. “Oh, I could set my clock to that. You see, Terra Two, that’s  _ exactly  _ what you’ve said the last eight times.”

My eyes slid shut, and he was right.

 

==CON==

 

There was cold metal on my face.

Not an odd way to wake up as of late. The Doctor’s dragged his companion and mine into some weird situations. Then again, sometimes I ran into them first. Can I really be blamed for that stuff? I don’t think so.

My head felt odd. Not in the way of metal on face. My head felt as if I had  _ run _ into the metal, repeatedly. There was some ringing noise. I could hear the blood rushing in my ears. My two hearts _ -since when did I have those? _ \- were pounding at my chest in a way that should have been painful.

I tried to push myself to my feet. There was a sudden burning sensation from my leg that sent me back down to the floor. Looking down, I saw a heavy bruise there, that I remember from old bodies as being the shape of a boot. The skin around the bruise was misshapen, slightly. My leg...sprained? Storyline I needed some sleep. After earlier- _ what happened earlier?- _ I needed my beauty sleep.

Memories were trickling back. More who, where, how, why. Not in any order that  _ helped. _

A man ran up to my side. He was a tall man, with short dark hair and ancient light blue eyes. He was wearing a purple shirt and leather jacket, and had a silver stick in his hands.

“Terra! You’re alive!”  _ ‘Was there a reason I shouldn’t be?’ _ “Lynda! Come help.”

There was something I didn’t like about this. I couldn’t remember what.

The man put his arm around my back. He tried lifting me to my feet. A woman came up beside him, holding my other side.

“Gah!” I cried out. “My leg!”

The man looked down. His expression hardened at the sight. “Help me move her.”

The woman beside the Doctor- _ that was it! _ \- helped move me. The Doctor wrapped an arm around my back, helping me up. I leaned against him, using him for a Time Lord crutch. I hissed at the pain in my ankle.

“Terra...Johnson.” I remembered. “That’s...me.” I looked up at the Doctor. “I’m a-”  _ ‘Psychic detective-profiler-high school student-superhero-killer-cartoon-Morgana-Queen of the Dead-freak-preacher’s daughter- _ Reality Jumper- _ ’  _ “Time Lady.”

The Doctor rested a hand on the back of my head, checking for any bumps or blood.

“We’re on Satellite...Ten? No, Five. Why’d I say ten?” My headache was coming back. I groaned. My hand reached up to the side of my face, trying to wipe off the aching hungover feeling. 

“Yes, I noticed it too.” The Doctor asked. He scanned me with the sonic. I winced at the whirring noise. “I’ve got something to fix this. One tick.” He looked back to the young woman. “Lynda, I need you to use  _ this _ -” He handed her the sonic. “-and use it on that wall setting. Just point and think setting 37-Orange.”

Lynda nodded, taking the sonic over. I was surprised he trusted it to her. Though my surprise of her was cut short when the Doctor’s hand glowed gold. 

“What are you-” I hissed under my breath as he put his hand over my injury. Beneath my skin, I felt a bone painlessly move back in place as well as some muscles.  _ ‘Where do I know this from?’ _

_ “That was a stupid waste of regeneration energy. Nothing is gained by you being a sentimental idiot.” _

Oh yes. That scene.

“Superior biology, right.” I snorted, testing out the healed leg. There was a quick moment of concern that it wouldn’t hold my weight, before I found balance. “That _ was _ a Time Lord thing, right?”

The Doctor nodded.

“Good. I’m gonna smack you for it later. I can’t remember exactly  _ what  _ that was, but I know it was stupid of you to do it.”

“It’s funny you  _ both  _ called it Satellite Five. No one’s called it that in ages. It’s the Game Station now.” The young woman explained, coming back with the sonic. The Doctor happily took it back. “Hasn’t been Satellite Five in about a hundred years.”

“A hundred years exactly. It’s the year two zero zero one zero zero. We were here before, Floor one three nine. The Satellite was broadcasting news channels back then.” The Doctor shrugged. “Had a bit of trouble upstairs. Nothing too serious. Easy. Gave them a hand, home in time for tea.”

“Stupid Door-in-the-Head, wanna hit him again.” I grumbled. The Doctor grinned.

“A hundred years ago? What, both of you were here a hundred years ago?” Lynda looked at us in shock.

“Yeah.”

“Uh-huh.”

She gave me a scanning look. “You’re looking good on it.”

“We moisturize.” I snorted. “Funny sorts of readings. All kinds of energy.”

“You feel the humming too?” The Doctor nodded at me. “I thought it was the air conditioning.”

“It’s weird. This goes way beyond normal transmissions. What would they need all that power for?” The Doctor asked.

“I don’t know. I think we’re the first ever contestants to get outside.” Lynda admitted with some glee in her voice.

“We had two friends travelling with us. They must’ve got caught in the same transmat. Where would they be?” The Doctor asked.

_ Robots. _

_ Anne-droid. _

_ Ladies, your viewing figures just went up. _

_ The Doctor wouldn’t just leave me. _

_ You really don’t want to know. _

_ Rose Tyler. You are the weakest link. Goodbye. _

The horrors played in my mind, stuck in replay.

Lynda, ignorant of my mental state, just shrugged. “I don’t know. They could’ve been allocated anywhere. There’s a hundred different games.”

“Like what?” The Doctor pressed.

“Well, there’s ten floors of  _ Big Brother _ .” Lynda began. With each listed show, my look of disgust grew. The Doctor’s matched it. “There’s a different House behind each of those doors. And then beyond that, there’s all sorts of shows. It’s non stop. There’s  _ Call My Bluff _ , with real guns.  _ Countdown _ , where you’ve got thirty seconds to stop the bomb going off.  _ Ground Force _ , which is a nasty one. You get turned into compost. There’s  _ Deal Or No Deal _ , you have to execute family and friends, or else you’ll be vaporized. Er, _ Wipeout _ , speaks for itself. Oh, and  _ Stars In Their Eyes _ . Literally, stars in their eyes. If you don’t sing, you get blinded.”

“And you watch this stuff?” The Doctor asked, incredulous.

“Everyone does.” Lynda defended.

The Doctor was staring at me in caution. “What kind of game were you in?” He asked, keeping his voice low so Lynda wouldn’t hear.

“The one that-”  _ Static. Blurry image. Error 404: memory not found _ . “Uh...the one with-” _ Ask again later. Go to second O in Google. Try using Bing? _ “...I can’t remember.” I admitted, my hearts pounding rapidly.

The Doctor stared at me in concern. I moved against one of the metal walls, using them to hold up my weight.

“How come you don’t know?” Lynda asked.

The Doctor kept his eyes on me. “Never paid for our licences.” The Doctor replied over his shoulder.

Lynda gasped. “Oh, my God! You get executed for that.”

“Let them try.” He challenged, motioning to me. “They’d have to get past my attack dog.”

“With a built in force-field.” I teased, shakily. “As long as you don’t have any dinosaurs, that eat forcefield dogs.” The Doctor chuckled at me.

The reference flew right over Lynda’s head. “You keep saying things that don’t make sense. Who are you though, Doctor, Terra, really?”

“It doesn’t matter.” The Doctor argued. He walked over to one of the other doors, testing his hand on the lock before using the sonic.

“Well, it does to me. I’ve just put my life in your hands.” Lynda stated.

The Doctor paused. He turned to Lynda. “We’re just travellers, wandering past.” He explained. “Believe it or not, all I’m after is a quiet life.”

“And you?” Lynda asked.

Blushing, I admitted “Quiet life sounds...dull. This is normal for me.”

_ ‘...what you said the last eight...’ _

The thought was gone before I could latch on it.

“So, if we get out of here, what’re you going to do? Just wander off again?” Lynda went on. My head was buzzing suddenly, I couldn’t think much on her words.

“Fast as I can.” The Doctor stated.

“So, I could come with you?” Lynda asked.

The Doctor glanced at me.  _ ‘Would you mind?’ _

_ ‘No, please. Take another blonde.’ _ I smirked at him _. ‘Let me be there when you tell your concubine.’ _

He narrowed his eyes. I continued smirking. He turned back to Lynda, smiling thoughtfully instead of glaring. “Maybe you could.” He offered.

“I wouldn’t get in the way.” She pleaded.

_ ‘Sweet Story. Shoot me now. Don’t let the Doctor collect another blonde. I wouldn’t survive Tyler’s rage.’ _

“I wouldn’t mind if you did. Not a bad idea, Lynda with a Y.” _ ‘Yep. Rose’ll meet her and we will all die.’ _

Ignoring him, I walked over towards the light switch. I stated at it for a moment. Bracing myself, I stared up at the unlit words 

“Oh no.” I breathed out.

Behind me, Lynda sneakers squeaked on the metal. Before she could I flipped the breaker.

The  _ Bad Wolf Corporation _ sign lit up. 

“Your lords and masters.” Lynda remarked.

I looked to the Doctor. The Time Lord stared at the signs in mounting horror.

 

==CON==

 

Lynda was staring out the windows. I stood beside her, looking out at the dying planet. It was ages before I would stand near this spot, on Platform One, and see this planet blasted to smithereens.

Only, this planet was dying already. It reminded me of all the post apocalypse movies. The ocean looked sick. The land was caked in smog.  _ ‘I had known this was the world I would create, back with Adam.  _ This _ was how it had to go. There was no choice. If we’d left them with the Jagrafess this world could be so much worse. Then again, this world is run by insane Daleks. How is that fat piece of slime better then humans turned Dalek?’ _

“Blimey! I’ve never seen it for real before. Not from orbit.” Lynda beamed. “Planet Earth.”

“What’s happened to it?” The Doctor asked, staring down at the planet, at a loss.

“Well, it’s always been like that ever since I was born.” Lynda pointed down at the biggest storm cloud. “See that there? That’s the Great Atlantic Smog Storm. It’s been going twenty years. We get newsflashes telling us when it’s safe to breath outside.” She explained.

“That’s...really sad, actually.” I admitted. My hand rested on the cold glass, looking down on the planet below.

“So the population just sits there? Half the world’s too fat, and half the world’s too thin, and you lot just watch telly?” The Doctor asked.

“Ten thousand channels, all beaming down from here.” Lynda boasted proudly.

“So not much has changed.” I mused.

“The Human Race. Brainless sheep being fed on a diet of-” The Doctor cut himself off. “Mind you, have they still got that programme where three people have to live with a bear?”

“Oh,  _ Bear With Me _ . I love that one!” Lynda cheered.

“And me. The celebrity edition where the bear got in the bath!” The Doctor recalled in excitement.

“Got in the bath!” Lynda agreed.

I rolled my eyes. “Reality TV blows.” _ ‘Thank the Merciful Storyline I’ve never gone to one of those. Nobody wants to see me in a reality show. I learned my mistake with history itself.’ _

“But it’s all gone wrong. I mean, history’s gone wrong again.” The Doctor stressed. “This should be the Fourth Great and Bountiful Human Empire. I don’t understand. Last time I was here I put it right.”

“No, but that’s when it first went wrong. A hundred years ago, like you said.” Lynda revealed. I let my head think down on the glass. “Uh, is she okay?”

Raising my arm up, I put a thumb’s up in her face. “Fine. Ignore me. Keep going. Tell us how we  _ screwed up time _ .  _ Again _ .”

“Well it’s just...a hundred years ago all the news channels, they just shut down overnight.” Lynda went on, cautiously.

“But that was us.  _ We _ did that.” The Doctor stressed.

“There was nothing left in their place. No information. The whole planet just froze.” Lynda explained. She looked down at her planet, sad. “The government, the economy, they collapsed. That was the start of it. One hundred years of hell.”

“Oh, my.” The Doctor followed her gaze. You didn’t need super hearing to hear his hearts breaking. “I made this world.”

“No.” I stood beside him. “ _ We _ did.”  _ ‘One of us more knowingly than the other.’ _ I mused to myself. I projected my next thoughts to the Doctor.  _ ‘Guess we’ll just have to fix it.’ _

The Doctor gave me a small smile back. He was skeptical, not thinking it was possible to fix this wrong.

 

==CON==

 

The Doctor was getting to work on the console. I ended up bumping him away, working on it myself. 

”Hey, beautiful. Good to see you.” Jack rushed in. He pulled me in for a fierce hug. The Doctor slid back to the keyboard. “Any sign of Rose?”

“Only in daydreams.” I mused.  _ ‘The Doctor needs something to keep his mind focused, I’ll let him have the console.’  _ “Guessing you can’t find her either.”

Jack shook his head. “She must still be inside the games. All the rooms are shielded.”

“If I can just get inside this computer. She’s got to be here somewhere.” Spoke the Doctor in a rush.

_ ‘A rush to save his girlfriend, one would say.’ _

“Well, you’d better hurry up. These games don’t have a happy ending.” Jack stated.

“Do you think I don’t know that?” The Doctor snapped.

My companion silently sighed. He looked to me, his expression asking it all. I returned it by forming a heart over my chest then bobbing my head at the Doctor. Jack understood. He took off his wrist computer, handing it over.

“There you go, patch that in. It’s programmed to find her.” Jack offered. 

“Thanks.” The Time Lord went back to work, barely acknowledging Jack.

I gave Jack a thumb’s up. He drew back his shoulders, puffing up his chest, in approval.

Then the other single female caught his eye. “Hey, there.” He held out his hand.

“Hello.” Lynda blushed.

“Captain Jack Harkness.” Jack introduced. I leaned against the console/

“Lynda Moss.” She greeted back.

He winked. “Nice to meet you, Lynda Moss.”

“Do you mind flirting outside?” The Doctor snapped.

“I was just saying hello!” Jack defended.

“For you, that’s flirting.” The Doctor scolded.

“Just let them do it, it’s them keeping them occupied.” I noted, looking down at my fingernails.  _ ‘Hold on, the polish on my left middle finger is chipped. Could it have come off in my game? What could have happened? ...why does thinking about it fill me with such anxiety?’  _ “We don’t need the distraction.”

“I’m not complaining.” The ex-game contestant admitted.

“Muchas gracias.” Jack beamed.

“It’s not compatible. This stupid system doesn’t make sense.” The Doctor threw down the computer.

I winced at the harsh metallic sounds it made.

He kicked at the console. Time Lord biology is great but it doesn’t make you invincible. To keep him from breaking his foot, I took of the front of the console thing. He barely noticed it in his growing annoyance.

“This place should be a basic broadcaster, but the systems are twice as complicated. It’s more than just television. This station’s transmitting something else.” The Doctor ranted.

“Like what?” Jack asked.

“I don’t know! This whole Bad Wolf thing’s tied up with me.” The Doctor shook his head. He was angrily huffing. “Someone’s manipulated my entire life. It’s some sort of trap and Rose is stuck inside it.”

I bit my lip. Yes I was concerned for Rose. Though we had only known each other for six months  _ (had it really been so short? Or do I only think it’s short because I’m so old?)  _ there was a kinship between us. She had met Darcy, then still wanted to be seen in public with me.

She was...there was something _ special _ about Rose. Everyone who’d met her had seen it. She brought this life to the universe. She would look at you like the stars revolved around you.  _ ‘No wonder the Doctor had fallen in love with her!’  _ As sad as Ten was when Rose was lost, Nine would be  _ crushed _ if anything happened to Rose.

“Found her.” The Doctor announced in glee.

“Where?” I asked, already walking to the door.

“Floor 4-0-7.” The Doctor reported.

Lynda gasped in terror. The men turned to her. “Oh, my God, she’s with the Anne Droid. You’ve got to get her out of there.”

My feet had already started running. “Let’s go!” I shouted, calling the elevator. The Doctor came up behind me, Jack and Lynda behind him.

_ ‘The Oncoming Storm is coming.’ _ I thought, glaring up at the ceiling. _ ‘Are you scared yet, Emperor?’ _

 

==CON==

 

The Doctor ran off the elevator first. He charged out as if we’d suddenly caught fire. Or worse, that Rose had.

“Game Room Six, which one is it?” The Doctor’s voice boomed.

“That one!” “Over here!”

The Doctor ran to the hand lock. He tried to use the sonic only it wasn’t working.

“Stand back, let me blast it open.” Jack shouted.

“Hydra combination! Can’t blast through.” I called back.

Jack huffed. He lowered the gun, still holding it at the ready in case we changed our minds.

I walked up to him, lowering my voice. “The TARDIS has the answer.”

Jack looked at me in confusion. “Huh?”

“The TARDIS has the answer, okay?” I repeated, giving him a meaningful look.

It clicked in his head. His eyes widened. He gave me a quick nod. I returned it.

The Doctor was still working on the lock. He had his face nearly pressed up against it. The blue light of the screwdriver was shining right in his eyes. “Come on, come on, come on.”

I got into a running pose. As soon as the doors opened, there wouldn’t be long before the Anne Droid fired.

The door was sliding open. Through it, I could hear Rose Tyler doing Jackie proud. “This game is illegal! I’m telling you to stop!”

As soon as the door was wide enough, I slipped in. 

“Rose!” The Doctor called out. He started running. I was ahead of him. “Stop this game!”

“Rose, you leave this life with nothing.” The Anne Droid continued on.

“Stop this game!” Jack called out with us.

“I order you to stop this game!” The Doctor shouted.

The woman wearing the headset didn’t know what to do. She had  _ no _ idea what was going on. 

I ran faster.

“You are the weakest link.” The Anne Droid prepared to fire.

“Look out for the Anne Droid, it’s armed!” Rose screamed.

She started running to meet us.

“ **NO!** ”

My hand had just taken hold of Rose’s when this fierce heat hit my back.

 

==CON==

 

Captain Jack Harkness, former conman, former Time Agent, former Face of Boe, was  _ not _ a good man.

He could pretend to be better. He could wake up in the morning without hating himself, completely. He and Terra had bonded over many things, including their own shady pasts. You don’t spend a month living with someone without learning a lot of secrets. 

Terra had believed in him. Even knowing that what happened was his fault, Terra still believed in him. Terra had brought Jack aboard, made him  _ her _ companion.

So when she and Rose Tyler were zapped into ashes in front of him, he was reasonably upset.

“What the hell did you do to them?” Jack shouted, rushing the person who had just been  _ standing _ there.

The woman wearing the headset flinched back. “I tried to get her back on stage-”

“You shot them! Killed them!” Jack raised his makeshift weapon.

“Look, when do I get my credits?” The competitor on stage asked.

Jack whirled the weapon around to him. “Two people just died, and all you can think about is money?!”

“It’s a part of the game, mate!” The man defended himself. “Put that thing down!”

“Back off!” Jack warned.

“I need security and I need it here right now!” The woman spoke into her headset.

Jack ground his teeth. He would love  _ nothing  _ more than to blast these people to bits. They’d deserve it. Terra would do the same if he’d been the one to die! Hell she’d  _ beat them _ with this gun!

“It’s this lot.” The woman pointed to Jack and the Doctor.

Jack looked over to the Doctor. The Time Lord hadn’t moved away from the pile of ashes that had been their friends. A security guard had been approaching.

“Don’t you touch him! Leave him alone!” Jack ordered. There was probably some Time Lord thing of mourning he was doing. He wasn’t going to break the Doctor away from it. He’d known both of the girls longer.

This must be killing him.

Another one of the guards pulled the Doctor up by his arm. It seemed to break him out of whatever mindscape his grief had created around him. The guard pointed the gun at the Doctor’s head. “Sir, put down the gun or I’ll have to shoot.”

Jack hated himself for putting the gun down. Terra would have hated if the Doctor died so soon after she did. He was the last of their people, for what it was worth now.

He immediately let the gun slip out of his hands. It fell to the floor with a clap. Two guards instantly restrained him.

Well this only pissed off Jack more.

“You killed them! Your stupid freaking game show killed them.” Jack screamed in their faces.

They weren’t moved, at all.

Jack didn’t stop. He wouldn’t stop. Not until Terra and Rose were avenged, like they deserved to be.

 

==CON==

 

They were locked inside the cells. Jack has already been searched (he wished he put back his hidden gun after using it on the other robots), locked up beside Lynda.

They took mugshots as well. Jack was so angry he didn’t even kiss to the camera. Instead he had wanted to break it. Break every piece of tech on this damned satellite. He wanted to find the people in charge, and ask them _ why _ their games killed his friends.

The guards were searching the Doctor now. Jack saw them pull out the sonic.

“Can you tell us the purpose of this device, sir?” The guard interrogated.

The Doctor didn’t answer.

Neither did Jack.

They threw the Time Lord back in the cell.

“Can you tell us how you got on board?” The guard interrogated further.

“Just leave him alone.” Lynda pleaded. “He just got-”

The guard grabbed Lynda’s jaw. The girl was silenced. “I’m asking him.” The guard snapped. “Sir? Can you tell us who you are?”

The Doctor wouldn’t answer.

So neither did Jack.

“You will be taken from this place to the Lunar Penal Colony, there to be held without trial. You may not appeal against this sentence. Is that understood?” The guard asked.

None of them answered him. Jack could see the Doctor coming out of his mind numbing grief. There was that anger in his eyes, the kind of fury Jack remembered from 1941. He would never forget it. Hell, he was probably matching it!

The guard was being let out. The cell door was almost open. If Jack and the Doctor were sent away, they would never avenge the girls or get answers. Whichever came first.

The Doctor whirled over to Jack. “Let’s do it.”

Jack didn’t need to be told twice.

He punched the first guard square in the face. The man went off into the wall with a heavy metal thump. He wouldn’t get up for a while. The second guard closed the gate. Jack grabbed on the handlebar above, lifting himself up to kick the gate back open. It swung back, hitting the guard in the face. Jack took advantage of his confusion. He wrestled with him for a moment, then punched  _ him _ clear in the face.

He could almost feel Terra’s teasing eyes.

_ “Nice job Jack.” Terra complimented. “Who knew you liked it rough?” _

_ “Terra!” Rose scolded, but she herself was laughing. It set off Terra laughing too, it always did. _

His expression hardened. Jack lifted up his makeshift gun.

Like a proper soldier, he marched into the elevator. The Doctor came in behind him and Lynda.

“Floor 500.” The Doctor ordered just as Jack typed in the code.

Jack gave the Doctor his larger gun, knowing that the Doctor hated them but the Doctor wasn’t saying no. Jack took for himself the guard’s weapons that Lynda had stolen. Just a pair of automatic rifles. Jack didn’t even realize he’d named them  _ Terra _ and _ Rose _ until they hit the 500th floor.

It opened up to this  _ odd _ looking station. The people were all surrounding this pale woman, strung up by at least fifty wires.

“Okay, move away from the desk!” Jack ordered. The workers all jumped in fear. “Nobody try anything clever. Everybody clear.” The workers moved off to the side, keeping their arms up. “Stand to the side and stay there.”

The Doctor raised his weapon at the pale strung up woman. “Who’s in charge of this place?”

“Nineteen, eighteen.” She was counting instead.

“This Satellite’s more than a Game Station.” The Doctor went on.

“Seventy nine, eighty.” She sounded as if she didn’t even notice there was a gun pointed at her.

“Who killed Rose Tyler and Terra Johnson?” The Doctor demanded.

“All staff are reminded that solar flares-” 

“I want an answer!” The Doctor shouted.

“-occur in delta point one.”

“She can’t reply.” One of the workers mentioned. The Doctor aimed the gun at him. The worker jumped back. “Don’t shoot!”

“Oh, don’t be so thick. Like I was ever going to shoot.” The Time Lord threw the gun at the worker, who caught it with shaking hands. “Captain, we’ve got more guards on the way up. Secure the exits.”

“Yes, sir.” Jack marched off.

He went over to one of the desks. It was the one for security details for this floor. Jack began typing in the commands to keep the doors sealed. He used his wrist computer to help move it along.

_ “My oh my. We got ourselves a regular hacker here, don’t we?”  _ Terra teased in Jack’s ear. He continued typing as if he didn’t hear her. But he could, damn him he could.  _ “You know you could’ve told me this _ months _ ago. I didn’t have to do all the work!” _

_ “Oh quit complaining. You loved showing off.” _ In his head, Rose was doing that tongue-tooth smile she did so much. The kind she saved for one she was embarrassing the Time Lords.

_ “No I don’t!”  _ Terra would’ve argued.

“You totally do.” Jack heard himself whisper. He shook himself out of his musings. The commands came back. “Door’s sealed. We should be safe for about ten minutes.”

“Keep an eye on them.” The Doctor ordered.

Jack nodded.

He checked his wrist computer. There was some signal coming in on it, behind one of the doors. Jack followed it. The door was locked by some hand scanner. He pushed hand against it. An alarm went off.

“You’re not allowed in there. Archive Six is out of bounds.” Another one of the workers shouted.

Jack raised his dubbed  _ ‘Terra’ _ and  _ ‘Rose’  _ rifles. “Do I look like an out of bounds sort of guy?”

_ “At least have a safeword, Jack. I mean come on, basic stuff.” _

_ “What was that, Terra?” _

_ “Nothing Rose! I meant nothing. I know nothing. Leave me alone!” _

He pushed his hand against the lock.

It swung open. Jack smirked to himself.

He smirked even wider when he saw what was inside.

_ “The TARDIS has the answer, okay?” Terra emphasized, giving Jack that look like he was an idiot for not hearing her. _

Jack had learned to notice and never ignore that look. It’d saved his hide more than one time. 

He ran up to the console. Rose’s jean jacket was hanging off a rail, the sand on she’d worn in 1941. Jack held it for a second, before seeing Terra’s hoodie. She had hung it up on the pilot seat after Japan. She said the nanobots were glitching, that she’d have to repair them. She’d been wearing a black tank top this whole time, on planetwide television.

_ “Great Jack. Thank ya kindly for putting that knowledge in my head!” Terra squeaked. She’d cross her arms over her chest, trying to hide herself. _

_ Rose would’ve snorted. “Least you weren’t wearing a Union Jack on your chest!” _

Jack went to the console computer, Terra’s hoodie in hand.

Equations appeared on the screen. The TARDIS made them in english for him. It didn’t mean he understood what he was looking at.

“What the hell?”

 

==CON==

 

When he understood, he wasted no time in telling the Doctor. Jack was  _ so _ smacking Terra upside the head for this!

“Found the TARDIS.” Jack announced.

“We’re not leaving now.” The Doctor snapped.

“No, but the TARDIS had the answer! You’ll want to watch this.” Jack pulled the worker out of his chair. He quickly turned to Lynda, flashing her his best grin. “Lynda, could you stand over there for me please?”

She was shyly shaking her head. “I just want to go home.” Lynda admitted.

“It’ll only take a second. Could you stand in that spot, quick as you can.” Jack kept up his award winning smile. Lynda hesitated, but still walked over. “Everybody watching?” Jack asked. He typed in the computer command codes. “Okay. three, two, one.”

He pushed the last button.

Lynda vanished.

He looked over to the Time Lord. The Doctor’s expression was twisted in disgust and horror. “But you killed her!”

“Oh, do you think?” Jack teased.

The beam put Lynda right beside the Doctor. He caught her before she fell on her face. “What the hell was that?”

“It’s a transmat beam. Not a disintegrator, a secondary transmat system.” The Doctor’s focus shifted to the explaining Jack. There was hope in his eyes. Jack liked that look much more than the other one. “People don’t get killed in the games. They get transported across space.”

He wasn’t finished. The Doctor was grinning. The good winning kind of grin.

“Doctor, Terra and Rose are still alive!” Jack cheered.

The Doctor shouted in joy, pulling Jack in for a hug.

_ “Then come find us, Buttface.” _

 

==CON==

 

Waking up on the Dalek base should not make feel this giddy. Except it did.

_ ‘I knew I was insane. This just seals it.’ _

Standing myself up, I brushed out the creases in my clothes. How long had I been on screen in just a black tank top and jeans?  _ ‘Merciful Storyline, where did I put my hoodie? And my Bag? Don’t I feel useless now.’ _

Looking down at my side, I saw Rose Tyler sleeping on. 

_ ‘Well...maybe not completely useless.’ _ I mused _. ‘Except, I hadn’t Planned on being dragged here. I was supposed to pull Rose down away from the blast. Guess it works out okay...so long as Jack understood my clue.’ _

“T’rra?” Rose groaned sleepily.

“Good mornin’ sunshine.” My hand reached out to help her up. She gladly took it. “You’ve been down awhile.”

Rose opened her mouth to ask more. She stopped, eyes going wide in terror. “No, it can’t be.”

I huffed. Turning on the balls of my feet, I saw the Dalek approaching.

“You’re dead. I saw you die!” Rose backed away in fear.

It raised the plunger at me. Unlike some in the past, I knew it could kill me. I backed away slowly, raising my arms up in a defensive pose. Immediately I countered how many other hostiles were in here. There were  _ way _ too many.

As soon as they had Rose and I backed into a corner, another beam brought the pale woman I recognized as the Controller.

She smiled victoriously at them as she got up to her feet.

“Oh, my masters, you can kill me, for I have brought your destruction.” The Controller boasted.

A Dalek raised it’s whisk arm.

“Stop!” Sidestepping the Daleks in front of me, I jumped in front of the Controller. The Dalek didn’t shoot me. Rose cried out for me in her corner. The Controller behind me only laughed. “If you want to kill her, you’ll have to get through me!”

“Terra no!” Rose shouted.”

“You can’t do that, can you?” I challenged the Daleks.

The Daleks shuffled around. The ones closest to me were barely restraining themselves.

“Cause when the Doctor finds out, oh when he finds out, he won’t stop until every last Dalek is a pile of  _ dust _ . I’ve seen him do it to your kind before. He’s gonna be fine doing it again.” I walked up to it, looking the Dalek right in his eyestalk. I lowered my voice so Rose couldn’t hear. “You can’t kill us. We’re your human shields. If you kill us, then there’s nothing in this world that’ll stop  _ your Predator _ from tearing each and every one of you apart.”

The Daleks shrunk away from me.

“Thank ya kindly. Now back off.” I commanded. “I consider this human behind me under my protection. You touch her, the Doctor will be your last concern.”

It seemed to be against it’s basic programming to follow my orders. It followed them anyway. They knew I was right.

They rolled an appropriate distance away.

“Hey.” I knelt by the albino human. Rose was coming up behind me. The Daleks must’ve let her out of the Fear Corner. “You feeling better?”

The human was looking me over, confusion in her clear eyes. “Yes, ma’am.”

“Nah, none of that  _ ma’am  _ stuff. Just call me Terra.” I assured her.

“You were in the games.” The Controller stated, using some of that same confidence from before.

_ ‘But which one? I can’t remember.’ _ I thought. “What’s your name, sunshine?”

The question actually seemed to cause her distress. “I...I can’t...It was so long ago. I was just a child when they took me. I don’t-I don’t know-” The pale woman began hyperventilating.

“No. No. It’s alright.” Rose assured, wrapping her arms around the albino. “You’re okay. It’s not your fault.”

“I got an idea. How about I call ya Liberty?” The pale girl looked up at me. “Yeah your right, it’s stupid. Maybe Dakota? I like Dakota, you look like a Dakota. That good for ya?” She was shaking, just a bit. “Dakota it is.”

“You are strange.” The newly dubbed Dakota commented.

“You’ve got no idea.” Rose whispered.

“Ungrateful concubine.” I lightly shoved her arm. It got a smile out of Rose, then of Dakota.

They were gone as soon as they caught sight of the Daleks.

 

==CON==

 

I was in the process of taking out the spikes in Dakota’s hair. Rose was helping, and by helping I mean doing most of it because _ “you can barely do your own hair, let me do it _ ” according to Rose. 

If it didn’t keep Rose’s mind occupied, I would’ve been insulted.

Leaning against one of their crooked walls, I kept a watch over the Daleks. My threat gave us a thin shield. They were insane enough as is, but none of them could deny the fear of the Dalek Predator. 

The second Dalek rolled up. It was shouting. “Alert. Alert. We are detected.”

The other Daleks shuffled in what a human would’ve been nervousness.

“It is the Doctor. He has located us.” The first Dalek replied robotically. “Open communications channel.”

The Dalek that had cried out about the alert aimed it’s plunger at us. “The females will stand. Stand!”

I helped Dakota to her feet. She stood tall beside me, not willing to show her old Masters fear.

A viewscreen pulled up. It showed the Game Station control room. Pavale and his crush were there, and Jack and Lynda, and the Doctor.

I couldn’t feel him in my mind. It was no doubt the walls of the Dalek ship blocking us. He seemed to be on the same conclusion. He was glaring up at the screen, rolling back his shoulders getting ready for a fight. Jack was looking at us in relief, then gave me an annoyed look. I only smiled, grateful.

“I will talk to the Doctor.” A Dalek announced.

_ “Oh, will you? That’s nice. Hello!”  _ The Doctor greeted with false cheer.

“The Dalek stratagem nears completion. The fleet is almost ready. You will not intervene.” The Dalek stated it’s terms.

_ “Oh, really?”  _ The Doctor asked. _ “Why’s that, then?” _

“We have your associates and our Controller.” It turned it’s eyestalk towards us. My expression fell to a deadpan, daring it to try something. It quickly turned back to the Doctor. “You will obey or they will be exterminated.”

_ “No.”  _ The Doctor ordered.

That got everyone to look at him. Some in shock, some in disgust, for Rose I’d say it was  _ ‘if I could reach him I’d slap the stupid out of him’ _ .

“Explain yourself.” The Dalek demanded.

_ “I said no.”  _ The Doctor explained.

“What is the meaning of this negative?”

_ “It means no.”  _ The Doctor clarified.

“But they will be destroyed.”  _ ‘Oh you poor senile things.’ _

_ “No! Because this is what I’m going to do. I’m going to rescue them.” _ The Doctor got up to his feet. He glared  _ furiously  _ at the screen. I’m sure if I was in the room, I’d’ve felt his words in my bones. I’m sure the Daleks were feeling it in their...jelly sacks of flesh?

I grinned. This part always gave me chills.

_ “I’m gonna save Rose Tyler and Terra Johnson from the middle of the Dalek fleet, and then I’m gonna save the Earth, and then- _ just to finish you off  _ -I’m gonna wipe every last _ **_stinking_ ** _ Dalek out of the sky!” _

“But you have no weapons.” The Dalek excused. “No defences, no plan!”

_ “Yeah.” _ The Doctor grinned.  _ “And doesn’t that scare you to death?” ‘Yep. Still getting chills.’ _ The Doctor looked over between Rose and I.  _ “Rose, Terra?” _

“Yes Doctor?”

“Request acknowledged.”

_ “I’m coming to get the both of you.”  _ The Doctor pointed the screwdriver at the screen. It glowed with it’s familiar blue light before the screen cut off.

“The Doctor is initiating hostile action.” A Dalek screamed. The others followed suit.

“The stratagem must advance. Begin the invasion of Earth!” The second Dalek shouted in panic. Cause oh yeah, these guys were panicking.

“The Doctor will be exterminated!” A third Dalek decreed.

Then the Daleks began chanting their mantra.

_ ‘Come on, Doctor. I don’t think I can hold them off for long.’ _

_ ‘...just love  _ The Big Game _ , don’t you?’ _

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You all hate me. This is fact.
> 
> The next chapter is the last part of this story. I’d be tearing up if I could cry.
> 
> No doubt some of you will ask, “who were the people in Terra’s boxes?” I am so glad you (didn’t) ask! Most of them were future companions, and some were Gamora’s team. The one in the high value box was a character from the DMLE story (the blue haired one. I’m truly evil). Funny enough, the person in box 9 was the Doctor.


	19. Parting of Ways

The Daleks hadn’t stopped their chanting.

My hands reached over to Rose and Dakota. They took gentle hold of their wrists. They turned to me, fear growing in their eyes.

“It’ll be okay. The Doctor’s never abandoned us before, Dakota, I doubt he’ll start now. If he does, I’ll punch him until he gets it right.” I promised.

This didn’t assure Dakota much. The corner of Rose’s lip tilted up for a near smile. 

The Dalek behind us didn’t agree with  _ joy.  _ If anything it made him  _ angry.  _ “You know the Doctor.” It ranted behind me. Dakota and Rose trembled in fear. Rolling my eyes, I turned my head towards the Dalek. “You understand him. You will predict his actions.”

Unfortunately for the Dalek, I‘d been having a bad day. “Nah. Don’t feel like it.” I replied, dryly.

It didn’t like that. He rolled closer, aiming the plunger at me. “Predict! Predict! Predict!” 

“Nah. I don’t feel like it.” I repeated.

Before the insane Dalek could explode in mad rage, a second Dalek saved his life.

“TARDIS detected in flight.” It reported.

The first Dalek relaxed. He back away from me, lowering the plunger as he did so. “Launch missiles. Exterminate.”

“You can’t!” Rise cried out. I glared back at her. Dakota was starting to shake. “The TARDIS hasn’t got any defences.”

“Don’t tell them that!” I snapped.

“They’re going to kill him!” Rose argued back.

“The human female has predicted correctly.” The Dalek informed.

I hissed at the Dalek. 

They brought up the viewscreen again. It focused on the missiles. They were quickly approaching the TARDIS. Rose gasped when they exploded. Dakota pulled in Rose for a hug. I stayed in a defense position in front of them.

The Daleks went back to their plans. Their Predatory was gone. They could continue unhindered.

Except they forgot they were dealing with  _ me _ .

“Terra, what are we gonna do?” Rose asked. Her words were thick with pain.

Dakota took my wrist in her hand. She gripped it so tight I think my knuckles were turning as white as her’s. “They killed the Doctor. We’ll never stop the Masters now.”

My tongue clicked to shut them up. “Ten seconds. Stand by.” They were surprised at my lack of grief.

“What?” Dakota and Rose gawked.

“Ten seconds. Stand _ by _ .” I flipped Dakota’s hold on my wrist, taking a firm hold of her wrist. My other hand grabbed Rose to pull her closer.

Rose made a noise of protest. She was just about to shout when the TARDIS engine whirred around us. Dakota yelped in fear, curling up closer to me. My hair started flying about in the created breeze.

We weren’t tight enough to keep the Dalek out.

The TARDIS phased to existence around us. The coral seemed to shine brighter than I’d ever seen it. There was this odd feeling in my mind. It felt like I was in two places at once, with my Time Lord sense unable to tell them apart. In the TARDIS, on a Dalek ship, in the TARDIS, on a Dalek ship, in, on, in, on _ -in-on-in-on-in-on-in-on-in. _

_ IN! _

_ ON! _

_ IN! _

_ ON! _

As it phased in and out, I could make out Jack’s face behind the console. The Doctor was glaring at my little group with intense blue orbs, like the TARDIS wasn’t landing around us fast enough.

Thankfully the process was over before I dropped in shock.

“Terra, pull them down!” The Doctor ordered. “Pull them down, Terra!”

I dragged the two humans to the grating. They followed without question.

“Exterminate!” The Dalek shouted just before Jack blew it up.

It was only when smoke started rising from it that I let go of their hands. Rose got up to her feet fast, walking up to the Doctor. I had to help Dakota to her feet.

“You did it.” Rose let out a breath of relief before the Doctor pulled her in for a strong hug. “Feels like I haven’t seen you in years.”

Jack came up to Dakota and I. He was looking at the albino woman cautiously. “Controller.”

“It’s Dakota now.” Dakota corrected. She worried on her fingers, glancing up to Jack and myself to make sure her name was alright. “The Masters- they chose me as the Controller.”

Jack studied her face for a quick moment. If you asked me later, I’d tell you he was seeing if she was his type. In reality he was seeing her loyalty, her closeness to where I was standing. He suddenly had the thought of me saving this woman from dying like so many before her.

He stretched his hand out to her. “Nice to meet ya then, Dakota.” Dakota flushed. She took his hand, gently shaking it.

As soon as the shake ended Jack pulled me in for big bear hug. I squeaked in distress. Jack hugs I’d become used to, this one was just setting off a lot of introvert alarms in my head. 

“Yeah. You’re never allowed to do that again.” Jack decided once I was on solid ground.

His words made me snort. “Would you believe me if I said my plan was to pull her to the ground?”

“No.” Jack answered honestly.

“Okay.”

“Then what was your plan?”

My cheeks flushed. “To pull Rose to the ground. The Anne-Droid was...faster than expected.”

Jack clicked his tongue at me. “Yeah. Never allowed to do it again.”

I shoved his arm.

“Hey, don’t I get a hug?” Jack called over to Rose.

It broke up her’s and the Doctor’s intense eye contact. 

Rose let out a barking laugh to Jack. “Oh, come here!” She ran to him.

“I was talking to him.” Jack pulled her in for a hug. Rose returned it, happy. “Welcome home.”

_ ‘You made a new friend.’ _

_ ‘Play nice. She was scared.’ _

_ ‘ _ She _ was scared?’ _

_ ‘Okay Rose was too.’ _

_ ‘Terra, it’s alright to admit you were scared.’ _ The Doctor assured.

_ ‘Yeah sure. I just wasn’t scared. I knew you were coming.’ _ I stated. And I did, not just from the show. The Doctor just _ doesn’t _ leave people behind, not to Daleks. It’d be like...if Harry Potter left the Dursleys to take on Dementors! It’s not how it goes. 

_ ‘I didn’t.’ _

_ ‘Yeah, real pessimistic of you. They were scared too. I had to compensate by being NICE. How DARE you make me the nice one, you son-of-a-bitch!’ _

He mentally laughed.  _ ‘Oh Rassilon, I never thought I’d hear you swear again.’ _

_ ‘Well get ready. I’ve been coming up with some clever ones on that ship.’ _

_ ‘Throw them at me, Sailor.’ _

_ ‘Will do, Mr Magoo.’ _

And the Doctor was just _ beaming  _ at me. This stupid grin that I could place. It belonged on Ten’s face. The one where his cheeks were ballooning from how wide the smile was. I could see him fighting the urge to hug me. His arms were shaking a bit by his sides. Instead of a hug, I sent him all the mental assurances of a phantom hug. He sent back assurances of his own.

Dakota had retaken her safe place behind me. The hug between Rose and Jack had ended, mental conversations going by much faster than the other ones.

“Oh, I thought I’d never see you again.” Rose exhaled in relief.

“Oh, you were lucky. That was just a one shot wonder.” Jack admitted, waving to the tossed aside defabricator.

“How often do you get to say that?” I teased instantly.

Jack smirked at me. The flirty one he had trademarked on some planet, no doubt. “I was talking about the gun.”

“So was I.” I smirked back.

“Oi, quit it.” The Doctor snapped without heat.

Jack turned back to Rose. The human was giggling at the familiar arguments. Dakota was looking at us with a shy smile. “It drained the gun of all its power supply. Now it’s just a piece of junk.”

He tossed the thing to the floor. It’s metal clanking was disheartening. 

 

==CON==

 

I’d sent Dakota into the back. She had protested the idea, saying she had wanted to help take down her former Masters. I convinced her that we would, and that she could help once we were back on the Game Station. 

When I walked back to the console room, I heard Rose. “You said they were extinct. How comes they’re still alive?”

Turning the corner, Jack pulled me in with an arm over my shoulders. “One minute they’re the greatest threat in the Universe.” He walked me towards the destroyed Dalek. I could see bits of the charred squishy alien inside. Jack sat down on the grating below, I followed him there. “The next minute they vanished out of time and space.”

“They went off to fight a bigger war.” The Doctor revealed. He backed away from the Dalek.  “The Time War.” He spoke it’s name like a secret he didn’t want to say.

“I thought that was just a legend.” Jack gawked at him.

“You’ll find in time the term  _ ‘legend’ _ is just an exaggerated story.” I reminded him. Jack looked at me in surprise. I nodded.

“I was there. The war between the Daleks and the Time Lords, with the whole of creation at stake. My people were destroyed, but they took the Daleks with them.” The Doctor explained the story. From his expression, it was as painful as the first time he told Rose and I. He glanced to me, still under Jack’s arm. “I almost thought it was worth it.” He turned back to the dead Dalek. “Now it turns out they died for nothing.” He spat. 

“There’s thousands of them now. We could hardly stop one. What’re we going to do?” Rose pleaded.

The Doctor’s whole outward flipped. The pain was faded from his face, swapped out with some kind of false exuberance. “No good stood round here chin wagging. Human race, you’d gossip all day.” Jack smiled at the jibe. The Doctor took my hand, pulling me up to my feet. “The Daleks have got the answers. Let’s go and meet the neighbors.”

He wrapped my arm around his. “Good strategy.” I complimented.

“Thanks. I really do try.” The Doctor beamed.

“You can’t go out there!” Rose shouted as we walked through the door.

The Daleks noticed us immediately. “Exterminate! Exterminate!” They chanted. They fired from the whisks. The blasts were blocked by the force field.

“Have they started yet?” I asked loudly. “I don’t think they started yet.”

“I think they  _ did _ start.” The Doctor remarked.

“And that was it?” I questioned.

“I know, right? Useless!  _ Nul points. _ ” He shouted to the large hoard of Daleks. He turned around, making his way to lean on the side of the TARDIS. “It’s all right, come on out. That force field can hold back anything.”

“Almost anything.” Jack commented. I whacked him upside his head. “Ow!”

“ _ Stop  _ divulging the secrets of the group!” I scolded.

“Sorry my bad.” Jack winced.

The Time Lord, meanwhile, made his way back to the edge of the force field. “Do you know what they call me in the ancient legends of the Dalek Homeworld? The Oncoming Storm.” He explained to the Daleks. “You might’ve removed all your emotions but I reckon right down deep in your DNA, there’s one little spark left, and that’s fear. Doesn’t it just burn when you face me?”

It did. Oh by the Merciful Storyline, it did. Some of the further away Daleks were shrinking their whisks, deciding whether to fire at the Doctor or not. Others were trying to avoid staring at him with the eyestalks. My personal favorites were the three directly ahead. They had no choice but to sit and aim.

_ ‘Fear is not Dalek.’ _

“So tell me. How did you survive the Time War?” The Doctor interrogated.

“They survived through me.” The Dalek Emperor’s voice boomed.

Not gonna lie, I grumble out a swear when I heard  _ him _ . The voice was much louder than on TV.

Heavy lights flipped on to reveal the  _ giant _ Dalek. The creature itself was safe in a tube, filled with some kind of water system. The surrounding structure was  _ much _ more suited to an Emperor than the rest of the tin cans.

The Doctor walked closer to it. He was at the other edge of the force field. I stayed in front of the humans, for protection. “Rose, Terra, Captain, this is the Emperor of the Daleks.” The Doctor introduces, a tremble of dismay in his voice.

The Dalek Emperor, even with one eye, had the guts to look down on us. “You destroyed us, Doctor and Terra. The Dalek race died in your inferno, but my ship survived, falling through time, crippled but alive.”

“I’m sorry, what?” I asked, stunned. “I didn’t do any sort of inferno.”

The Dalek Emperor moved his eye to me, creeping me out. “Terra. The Fallen Star from Gallifrey. You and the Doctor laid waste to Dalek kind at the end of the Time War.”

I was shocked with each and every word. My future self  _ did _ say I was called Fallen Star by the Daleks...but I always thought that just meant it would happen later, like  _ after _ this. I didn’t know they were  _ already _ calling me that.

I turned to the Doctor, seeing his blue eyes filled with curiosity and betrayal.

“I have  _ no idea _ what he is talking about.” I promised, practically frenzied. “Honest. This is a very big surprise. I am silently panicking. Okay. Not so silent, but-”

“Do not interrupt.” A Dalek shouted at us.

“Do not interrupt.” A second Dalek repeated.

“Do not interrupt.” A third one agreed. It was hard to say if these were the same three Daleks that had Dakota, Rose, and I at whisk-point.

The Doctor stood up by my side. I let him, not wanting to show how scared I was by the Dalek Emperor’s accusations. “I think you’re forgetting something. She’s Terra Johnson, and I’m the Doctor, and if there’s one thing we can do, it’s talk. I’ve got five billion languages, and she’s got an attitude, and you haven’t got  _ one _ way of stopping us. So if anybody’s going to shut up,  _ it’s you!” _

The Daleks silenced, backing away from their Predator in fear. Or what it  _ predators  _ now? I’m not sure. 

“Okie doke. So, where were we?” The Doctor asked the Dalek Emperor. “You were accusing my friend of genocide?”

“She  _ has _ .” The Dalek Emperor stressed. “We waited here in the dark space, damaged but rebuilding. Centuries passed, and we quietly infiltrated the systems of Earth, harvesting the waste of humanity. The prisoners, the refugees, the dispossessed. They all came to us. The bodies were filtered, pulped, sifted. The seed of the human race is perverted. Only one cell in a billion was fit to be nurtured.”

“So you created an army of Daleks out of the dead.” The Doctor summarized.

“That makes them half human.” Rose realized.

“Those words are blasphemy.” The Dalek Emperor scolded

“Do not blaspheme.” A Dalek chanted. The whole congregation of Daleks chanted with it.

“Everything human has been purged. I cultivated pure and blessed Dalek.” The Dalek Emperor excused.

“Daleks have a religion?” I asked the Doctor. “You didn’t tell me they had a religion.”

“They don’t.” The Doctor looked up to the  Dalek Emperor. “Since when did the Daleks have a concept of blasphemy?”

“I reached into the dirt and made new life. I am the God of all Daleks!” The Dalek Emperor decreed.

“Worship him. Worship him. Worship him.” The Daleks praised.

_ ‘Praise him. Praise him. Rob me of my faith in peace. Praise him.’ _

“They’re insane. Hiding in silence for hundreds of years, that’s enough to drive anyone mad.” The Doctor put it together.

“But it’s worse than that.” I interrupted him. “Religion is still a human concept. Somewhere deep inside, is just enough for it.” I turned to one Dalek, staring right down his eyestalk. “Driven mad by your own flesh. You hate your own existence...who knows how many bodies you’ll pile up to get rid of the stink.”

The Dalek stared back. The eyestalk narrowed it’s focus for a moment before zooming back out.

_ ‘Do you like soufflés?’ _

_ ‘Does it look real to you?’ _

_ ‘We’ve grown stronger in fear of you.’ _

“We’re going.” The Time Lord decided. He took my arm, walking me towards the TARDIS. Rose and Jack quickly followed behind.

“You may not leave my presence.” The Dalek Emperor ordered.

“Stay where you are.” The Dalek shouted at us.

The Doctor pushed the door open. He let the rest of us inside first. He grinned back at them.

“Exterminate!” The Daleks shouted.

The TARDIS slammed her doors shut. But I could still hear the Daleks shouting at us, firing at the TARDIS. The Doctor rested his head against the door, at a loss.

 

==CON==

 

She got us back to the Game Station. I pulled Dakota out from her safe space. She had changed her clothes to a dark red hoodie, cargo denim pants, and a dark red beanie cap. It made her pale skin seem more natural.

When we parked at the end of the room, the Doctor was the first one out. “Turn everything up. All transmitters full power, wide open. Now! Do it!” The Doctor ordered.

The workers immediately began doing so. They hadn’t noticed Dakota behind me. She didn’t want to be noticed. That was good. That’s what I needed.

She pulled on my sleeve. I turned to her. “Dakota?”

“What happened?” Dakota asked. “To my Masters?”

“They aren’t your Masters anymore.” I reminded, pointedly. “We met the Emperor.” Dakota’s eyes shrunk to pinpricks. “We’re not dead. The Daleks are just coming to invade.”

She gasped.

I rolled my eyes. The Doctor was still speaking in the background. “No, no. Don’t start freaking out. I need you ready to help.”

“B-but the Masters-”

“Will be  _ handled _ . Now can we please-”

“Oh, my God. The Fleet is moving. They’re on their way.” Pavale shouted loud enough for us all to hear.

Dakota squeaked in terror.

I let out a small huff.  _ ‘Dammit Pavale. I was busy! My plan is going to be very difficult to complete if you keep shouting!’ _

The Doctor clapped his hands together. He ran to the various panels up the walkway. “Dalek plan. Big mistake, because what have they left me with? Anyone? Anyone?” He paused for effect. The humans all gave him blank faces. Mine was more of a deadpan. “Oh, come on, it’s obvious. A great big transmitter. This station. If I can change the signal, fold it back, sequence it, anyone?”

_ ‘Time to throw him a bone.’ _ “Oh no.” I groaned.

“Give the Lady a medal.” The Doctor announced, smiling at me proudly.

“Don’t do this.” I groaned again.

“You’ve got to be kidding.” Jack groaned in agreement. “A Delta Wave?”

“A Delta Wave!” The Doctor rejoiced loudly.

“What’s a Delta Wave?” Rose asked, for the others.

“A wave of Van Cassadyne energy. It fries your brain. Stand in the way of a Delta Wave and your head gets barbecued.” Jack explained.

“If you’re lucky!” I argued. “If you’re not, your head  _ explodes _ !”

“And this place can transmit a massive wave. Wipe out the Daleks!” The Doctor finished.

Rose didn’t seem to be liking the idea. She wasn’t alone. Even though I’d seen it on TV, knowing it would fail, there wasn’t much reason  _ to _ like a massive killer death beam. 

_ Especially when the Doctor is building it. _

“Well, get started and do it then.” Lynda encouraged.

“Trouble is, wave this size, building this big, brain as clever as mine, should take about, oh, three days?” The Doctor theorized. He looked to Pavale. “How long till the Fleet arrive?”

“Twenty two minutes.”

The Time Lord rushed to work. 

The rest of them began to help. Jack was getting them ready for some defense attack. I pulled Dakota aside, going towards the TARDIS.

“I’m not hiding, Terra.” Dakota stated. She tried pulling her arm out of mine. “I’m going to help.”

“You are. I’ve had a better idea.” I assured. Nodding my head towards the console, I continued guiding Dakota inside. “Come on.”

“I said I’m not going to hide!”

“Good. This plan keeps you close and personal.” I showed her the remains of the Dalek Jack had shot. “This guy will be helping us out. Grab some cables from that floor panel, those are the spares...I think.” While I waited for her to do that, I reached into my bag for my laptop.

Dakota tilted her head at me. “Terra?”

I hummed.

“How will a dead Dalek help us?” Dakota inquired.

“He’s gonna help save the human race.”

Dakota was  _ more _ unsure.

I put the laptop aside. It was still starting up anyway. “The Daleks are part of a hivemind. The only way to get inside the hivemind is to already be part of it. Solution? Use a Dalek to hack inside.”

“But...how can you hack a  _ Dalek?” _ Dakota asked.

“Carefully.” I replied.

Dakota wasn’t convinced. Her face was scrunched up in concern. “And  _ if _ , you can hack in?”

“Then we tell them Earth is already dead.” I explained. “Or not there. I haven’t decided yet.”

By then, the laptop had powered on. I went to pull out the necessary cables from the floor panel. I started hooking up the Dalek (trying to, anyway).

“This doesn’t sound like a good idea.” Dakota voiced. She didn’t do anything to stop me.

“Of course It is. I’ve got you helping me.” I stated.

“Why would I change anything?” Dakota asked.

“Because in a way,  _ you’ve _ been in the Hivemind. You’ve seen how the pathways work, at least one-way to receive your orders. I’m willing to bet you can help me solve this.” I explained. I leaned in, giving my best grin. “Besides. I can’t think of a better way to mess them up. Can you help me, Dakota? Give a big middle finger to your  _ ‘Masters’ _ from one of their own?”

That was good enough for Dakota. She started searching for relevant cords.

_ ‘Hope I do you proud, Oswin.’ _ I thought to myself.  _ ‘You deserved better.’ _

 

==CON==

 

“Terra!” Jack called out. 

“TARDIS!” I answered over my shoulder. 

“What the hell are you doing in there?”

I hopped up off the floor. I turned to Dakota. “Keep trying to connect the Dalek to my laptop. I need a  _ physical  _ connection. At least  _ one _ cable will work.”

Dakota nodded. There was the impression she’d salute if she knew what that was.

I hopped out of the TARDIS, closing the doors behind me. “Trying something myself. What have you got for me, Captain?”

Jack raised an eyebrow, but didn’t comment. He walked me towards his little group of humans. 

“We’ve now got a forcefield so they can’t blast us out of the sky, but that doesn’t stop the Daleks from physically invading.” Jack reported to me.

“Do they know about the Delta Wave?” Pavale asked, worriedly.

“They’ll have worked it out at the same time.” Jack answered. “So, they want to stop the Doctor, and probably whatever Terra’s doing. That means they’ve got to get to this level: five hundred. Now, I can concentrate the extrapolator around the top six levels, five hundred to four nine five. So they’ll penetrate the station below that at level four nine four and fight their way up.”

“Who are they fighting?” Pavale asked.

“Us.” Jack replied.

That didn’t help his nerves. “And what are we fighting with?”

“Your guards had guns with bastic bullets. That’s enough to blow a Dalek wide open.” I encouraged.

“There’s six of us.” The woman argued.

“Rose, Terra, you can help me. I need all these wires stripping bare.” The Doctor recruited.

The blonde walked over. I stayed with Jack.

“Right, now there’s five of us.” The woman

“Then let’s move it. Into the lift. Isolate the lift controls.” Jack instructed. The nearly happy couple ran off to follow. 

Lynda, she made a stop by the Doctor. “I just want to say, er, thanks, I suppose, and I’ll do my best.”

“Me too.” The Doctor reached up his hand. The Doctor and Lynda shook hands.

As Lynda chased after her new group, Jack came up.

“It’s been fun, but I guess this is goodbye.” Jack stated.

“Don’t talk like that.” Rose warned. “The Doctor’s going to do it. You just watch him.”

Jack took her head in his hands, caressing her cheeks. “Rose, you are worth fighting for.” The man kissed her. She let him, a little surprised by the act.

Jack turned to me. I wanted to say something, but I was just standing there. He was basically going to die, and then never stop. It was going to be like that for the rest of his life, his long linear life. He came up to me. “Terra, it was an absolute privilege knowin’ ya.”

I expected a pat on the back on the shoulder, and a meaningful look in the eye. If my first kiss was Jack saying goodbye I’d never forgive him. and he knew it.

“Don’t go.” I begged.  _ ‘We can stop this, Jack, please. I can’t have you dying on me. Don’t you remember what I said to you in my room? Don’t leave me. Please, please stay.’ _

The ex-time Agent grabbed the sides of my face. My eyes widened when I figured out what was gonna happen. He pulled me close, and...kissed my forehead.

_ ‘Fifty-second century tease.’ _

“Wish I’d never met you.” He whispered against my forehead. “I was much better off as a coward.”

“Yeah you were.” I admitted, giving his hand a quick squeeze. 

Jack pulled away after a moment, a look of resigned acceptance on his face. He moved towards the Doctor, while I stayed where I was with probably a heartbroken expression on my face.

He kissed the Doctor with little ceremony. “See you in hell.”

He ran off to his new team. I’d never wanted to cry harder in my life.

“He’s going to be all right, isn’t he?” Rose asked after our silence.

To keep from crying in front of them, I made my way back towards the TARDIS.

“Where’re you going?” Rose asked. “And where’s Dakota?”

That shocked me to reality. I blinked, looking to my friend. “In the TARDIS. I have a Plan of my own, wanna give it a go, buy us some time.”

“And Dakota...?” Rose prompted.

“Is helping me.” I motioned for Rose to rejoin the Doctor. “Go on now, go back to helping your boyfriend.”

“He’s not my boyfriend!”

“I’m not her boyfriend!”

I scoffed. “The Lord and Lady doth protest too much.” I teased before climbing into the TARDIS.

The door locked behind me.

Dakota looked at me, worriedly. “Are you alright?”

_ ‘No. And I won’t be, not while Jack is dying forever and ever to never stop. Not until New Earth, where he’ll just be a giant head.’ _

“Yeah.” I sniffled, wiping my nose with my sleeve. “Yeah. Did you get any of the cables to connect yet?”

Then it was back to work.

 

==CON==

 

“We got it!” I cheered loudly from inside the TARDIS.

Dakota turned to me. “It’s done? You’ve hacked it?”

“Yes I did!” I put the laptop down on the pilot seat. Once it was secure I bounced around the console. “I hacked in, I hacked in, I hacked into a Dal-ek!” I sang to the tune of _ ‘ring around the rosey’ _ .

It had taken an hour. Granted, that was still a short time when you think about how long it  _ should _ take to hack a Dalek. Which, according to the Doctor, took  _ forever _ . An hour was a blink.  Despite the rush, there wasn’t much time to enjoy it. If I wanted this done there was so much more to do.

“Dakota, you stay in here.” I put the laptop in her lap. “You keep it on this screen. All you need to do is tell me if that number-” I pointed to a number on the screen. The screen looked vaguely like Google Maps only completely zoomed out. The number looked like coordinates. “-changes. At all. Got that?”

Dakota nodded. “Won’t let you down, ma’am.”

“What did I say about calling me  _ ma’am _ ?”

Dakota’s pale cheeks went pink. “Won’t let you down,  _ Terra _ .”

“Doubt you could.” I gave her a proud grin. “And. Just.” I took hold of her arm. Pulling a pen from my pocket, I wrote Darcy’s phone number on her arm. “In case of emergency. Like, sudden time displacement.”

“Wait what do they mean?” Dakota asked as I got to my feet.

“Rose’ll tell you later.” I went to the doors. “It’s part of my Plan. Remember, tell me when those numbers on screen change!”

I swung the doors open. Rose and the Doctor were too engrossed in each other to notice me. I was a ghost.

“Hello concubine, Magic.” I happily walked around them.

Again, I might as well have been Danny Fenton in Casper High. 

_ Sorry. Did I  _ spoil  _ that for you? So  _ sorry  _ for spoiling _ his worst kept secret _. Write your letters to ‘180 Your Trash Can Lane’. _

“Don’t mind me.” I playfully brushed them off. My focus was the main computer. I began typing in the new coordinates. I’d spent a few minutes in the TARDIS looking for the right one.

_ ‘Take this, Eris, you stupid dwarf planet. Pluto shall be the Ninth Planet once again! NO ONE SKIPS NINE!’ _

Burton Guster would be so proud of me.

I was typing in the extensive code to connect this main screen to my laptop. It would send the coordinates to my laptop, then send those inside the Dalek, then it would send it across the Dalek-Hivemind.

And the Daleks would believe planet Earth was billions of miles  _ that  _ way. It might hold them off long enough for the Doctor and I to build the Delta Wave.

Oh yeah. I make the  _ best _ plans.

To top it off, I wasn’t inside the TARDIS. I doubt the Doctor noticed I left.

He’d send Rose off, thinking I was inside with Dakota. Rose would help Dakota understand Darcy’s number, she’d distract them until it was time for the Bad Wolf to bring them here.

There was plenty of time in The middle for me to help the Doctor build the Delta Wave. It  _ might _ be enough time to tune it. The Earth wouldn’t be hurt. These humans would get to live. Then Jack wouldn’t die. Or, if I was lucky, I could pick the Doctor’s brain about what the  _ fuck _ the Dalek Emperor had meant about me  _ killing the Time Lords. _

You know. If there was time.

Except there wasn’t.

Because he  _ had _ noticed me.

Before I could push in the finished coordinates for Eris, the Doctor lifted me up in his arms.

“Put me down!” I screamed at him. My legs tried kicking back at his shins.

For some reason, I remembered my old leg injury from when I’d woken up. The one that looked like I’d been kicked in the shin. The almost memory gave me pause. Enough for the Doctor the push me into the TARDIS before I realized.

“Hey Terra!” Rose cheered. “Do you know what I’m supposed to do next? Do I take my hand off? It’s moving.”

I didn’t answer.

“The number hasn’t changed, Terra. Is that good?” Dakota asked from the floor, my laptop ion her thighs. 

Rose seemed to figure out something was wrong. She ran to the doors, pushing me out of the way.

I let her. Instead, I stared down at the last bits of the Dalek. 

Rose was screaming as she pounded on the doors. Dakota looked up at me.

“This isn’t good. Is it?” Dakota asked.

Numb, I shook my head.

_ “This is Emergency Programme One.” _

I threw my shoe at his head. “Bastard!” I shouted at it. “You monochromatic  **bastard!”**

_ “Terra, Rose, now listen, this is important. If this message is activated, then it can only mean one thing. We must be in danger. And I mean fatal. I’m dead or about to die any second with no chance of escape.” _ The Doctor’s hologram recited.

“No!” Rose sobbed. Her brown eyes were leaking tears.

Dakota held me back from throwing my other shoe. To be honest, I’m not sure who I would’ve hit with it.

_ “And that’s okay. Hope it’s a good death. But I promised to look after you, and that’s what I’m doing. The TARDIS is taking you and Rose home.” _ The Doctor’s hologram went on. 

“I won’t let you.” Rose argued.

I kept glaring. Hell yes he was in a life or death situation. He threw me in here! I was gonna kill him when the TARDIS would take me back. Screw the Bad Wolf/Time Vortex/whatever. Ten was coming to life in the angry hands of Terra Johnson!

_ “And I bet Rose is gonna be fussing and moaning now. You’re probably _ inventing _ new curse words for this hologram. Typical. But hold on and just listen a bit more. The TARDIS can never return for me. Emergency Programme One means I’m facing an enemy that should never get their hands on this machine. So this is what you should do, Rose. Let the TARDIS die. Just let this old box gather dust. No one can open it. No one’ll even notice it. Let it become a strange little thing standing on a street corner. And over the years, the world’ll move on and the box will be buried. And if you want to remember me, then you can do one thing. That’s all, one thing. Have a good life with that boyfriend of your’s, Mickey. Terra, I want you to go find UNIT. Tell them I sent you. They’ll help you in ways I never can now. You’ll get to keep saving the world. Can you do that Rose, Terra? Do that for me. Have fantastic lives.” _

The hologram blinked off.

“I’m gonna kill that bastard.” I repeated. My hand raised. “Who else?”

Neither Rose or Dakota answered me. 

“You can’t do this to us. You can’t. Take us back! Take us back! No!” Rose ranted.

“No from you. Dakota?”

The albino woman wasn’t reacting tamely either. Her teeth were set in a growl. “He sent us away! I was going to help stop the Masters! How  _ dare _ he!”

“Yes! Another person on Team Murder-Doctor!” I cheered, feeling a sadistic glee.

Rose had effectively find me out at that point.  “Come on, fly. How do you fly? Come on, Terra! Help me!” Rose shouted at me. 

“I don’t know how!” I shouted back. “He never showed me that part!”

Rose grunted in frustration. She kept trying to flip levers and switches, only to find then stuck. I started typing randomly on the console computer, hoping at least  _ something  _ would kick off. 

After ten minutes of this, it was obvious neither of us would make the TARDIS act against the Doctor’s wishes.

_ We had failed. _

And as Rose walked out of the TARDIS, as Dakota followed her out, as I sunk to the metal flooring, I had one thought.

_ Jack...I’m sorry. _

 

==CON==

 

Dakota did not understand the past. 

It was noisier than her time. There were these things, called  _ cars _ . They didn’t fly like the  _ hovers _ they used it her time. These used something called  _ wheels _ . They were powered by  _ ‘gas’ _ rather than cold fusion.

The  _ clothes _ were a whole other story. Dakota had disliked Terra’s first options for clothing. It turns out those were the  _ nicest _ pieces of twenty-first century clothing. All these women wore the shortest skirts and thin shirts. Did they not have to fear the killer sun, or their atmosphere coming down to choke on them?

They had different  _ food _ . Dakota had only heard legends and myth of the  _ ‘chicken’ _ . She had seen people eating things the Rose girl called  _ ‘chips’ _ and  _ ‘crisps’ _ . They did not drink water, instead it was  _ ‘soda’ _ .

The Rose’s mother, a stern faced but affectionate Jackie Tyler- _ “But you can just go ahead and call me Jackie. Poor thing like you, needs a little TLC”- _ had given Dakota some ‘fish and chips’ to eat. The older woman had thought Dakota was too thin. 

Dakota didn’t even know why she had joined Rose. It was obvious Terra wouldn’t leave the TARDIS. Her plan to stop the Masters had been cut off. Dakota was looking forward to their defeat.

It was clear that the Time Lady needed a moment alone. Dakota left her with her thoughts, following Rose. She nearly asked what the numbers on her arm meant, except for Rose was sobbing most of the way here.

“And it’s gone up market, this place. They’re doing little tubs of coleslaw, now. It’s not very nice. It tastes a bit sort of clinical.” Jackie complained.

Dakota didn’t understand how you could complain about  _ food _ . She’d never had it. One of the many tubes on her body had been meant to feed her nutrients. Dakota doesn’t think she ever had to use her teeth for anything but words this meal. 

“Have you tried that new pizza place down Minto Road?” Mickey asked, though clearly only to Jackie. Dakota didn’t like Mickey.

“What’s it selling?” Jackie asked.

“Pizza.” Mickey answered after a pause.

“That’s nice. Do they deliver?” Jackie asked.

“Yeah.” Mickey replied.

“What is  _ pizza _ ?” Dakota asked.

This Mickey person blinked. “It’s...pizza. Who are you again?”

“Dakota.” Dakota answered. “Terra named me.”

Mickey seemed to accept this answer. He didn’t trust Dakota, based on the look in his eyes. “She  _ named _ you?”

“I don’t remember my name from before...I didn’t remember. Terra gave me a new one.” Dakota answered. 

“When are you from again?”

“The year 200,100.” Dakota answered.

Mickey didn’t have a reply for that. 

“Oh, Rose, have something to eat.” Jackie encouraged.

“Two hundred thousand years in the future, he’s dying, and there’s nothing I can do.” Rose replied snippily. 

“Well, like you said two hundred thousand years. It’s way off.” Jackie casually brushed off.

“But it’s not. It’s now. That fight is happening right now, and he’s fighting for us, for the whole planet, and I’m just sitting here eating chips.” Rose complained. 

_ ‘Again with the complaining. It was going to drive Dakota mad.’ _

“Listen to me. God knows I have hated that man, but right now, I love him and do you know why?” Jackie asked but clearly didn’t expect an answer. Was that done Motherly thing Dakota had head about on the Games? “Because he did the right thing. He sent you back to me.”

“But what do I do every day, mum? What do I do? Get up, catch the bus, go to work, come back home, eat chips and go to bed? Is that it?” Rose asked, on the verge of a breakdown.

“It’s what the rest of us do.” Mickey shrugged.

“But I can’t!” Rose snapped. She had the mind to lower her voice to keep from causing a scene.

“Why, because you’re better than us?” Mickey asked, sounding hurt.

“No, I didn’t mean that. But it was.” Rose let out a long suffering sigh. She looked out the window. Dakota followed her gaze, seeing a blue sky and normal people milling about. “It was a better life. And I don’t mean all the travelling and seeing aliens and spaceships and things. That don’t matter. The Doctor showed me a better way of living your life. You know he showed you too. That you don’t just give up. You don’t just let things happen. You make a stand. You say no. You have the guts to do what’s right when everyone else just runs away, and I just can’t...”

She ran off.

Mickey followed her. 

Dakota still did not understand the past. 

She held up her arm to Jackie, exposing the written numbers. “Do you know what these mean?”

Still in shock at her daughter running off, Jackie gave Dakota a phone. After typing in the supposed  _ ‘phone number’ _ , Dakota was told to press the green button and hold it to her ear.

She did so, wondering why the device ringing was so important. There was some clicking sound over the speaker.

“Hello?” Dakota asked.

_ “What’s on fire and why was I not invited?”  _ A young woman’s voice spoke out from the phone. 

 

==CON==

 

I was standing in the TARDIS.

How long had I been standing here? Not long, if Rose hadn’t come back yet. 

I went over to my laptop, shutting it down. There’s be other times to hack a Dalek, right? It would be child’s play after this.

Now I’m thinking about Darcy, about Dakota using the number on her arm when she didn’t have to now. I could call Darcy now for her.

Pulling out my phone, I typed in a number.

Except as I hit the green button I realized it wasn’t Darcy’s. 

The dial tone came up.

_ “Hey. This is Captain Jack Harkness. Leave your message after the beep.” _

_ ‘Even his answering machine flirts with you.’ _ I thought before the beep.

“Jack?” I spoke into the phone. “Are you there? It’s...Terra. Me, Terra. I’m here, modern day. The one that’s caught up. The one that...I’m sorry. I wanted- I  _ never _ wanted you to be...I’m sorry.”

Tears were gathering up in my eyes. They burned as I held them back. My words were starting to stick in my throat. The ones coming out were no better than gibberish at this point.

“I didn’t want to leave you. I was trying to save you! I hacked into the Dalek Hivemind!” I hiccuped a cry. “Right? I was gonna send them to fucking Eris. Ninth planet stealer...what am I doing? You don’t care. I never got the chance to use it. It failed. It didn’t save you.”

Wiping at my face with my sleeve, I sucked in as much air as I could. Crying was a  _ bitch _ for Time Ladies.

“Bye Jack. I...you were better.”

I hung up the phone. 

It rang right after. That stupid ringtone Darcy on it. 

Finishing wiping at my eyes, I answered her. “You called me. What do you want?”

_ “Dakota just called me? Why didn’t you call to report?” _ Darcy interrogated.

“You’re my second call.” I admitted. Rising to my feet, I started pacing around the console. 

“ _ Second call? Who the hell was first?”  _ Darcy asked, offended. 

I didn’t answer that.

_ “Fine. Whatever. What do you need?” _ Darcy asked.

“Dakota. Treat her right.” I ordered. Darcy scoffed, as if she’d do anything less than follow an instruction. I didn’t dignify that with a response. “Why do the Daleks call me  _ ‘Fallen Star’ _ ?” I asked.

Darcy snorted across the line. _ “Sure. I’ll take care of a pig and your other strays _ .” She snickered.  _ “As for the Fallen Star thing, I’m not sure. Their language is hard to translate. They have the same word for graveyard and sewer, how messed up is that? They treat their dead like garbage.” _

“Well they don’t like the living that much better.” I snarked. “Translation? What do you mean?”

_ “From what Future You has told me, and from the bits of chatter I’ve heard, they think of you like the meteor that killed the dinosaurs.” _

“I’m a dinosaur killer too?”

_ “No. It’s like...their word for meteor is just ‘fallen star’. You already killed off the Daleks, that’s it.” _

I groaned.

_ “Yeah. It’s shit. I’ll pick up Dakota in thirty, that okay?” _

“Fine. Fine, thirty minutes.” This information would take time to process. Maybe a  _ century _ . “Don’t be late, Anderson.”

_ “The only thing I’m late for is my monthly’s!” _ She cheered.

My phone clapped shut.

 

==CON==

 

Twenty minutes later, Rose and Mickey came back.

“Terra! I figured it out!” Rose announced.

“The Bad Wolf is a signal to bring you back?”

“Yeah! We thought it was a warn-...how long did you know?” Rose asked, some of the pep lost in her step. 

“It was spray painted on the TARDIS side.” I replied. “Plus the thing with Blon. It became obvious.”

Rose let out a quick huff. She put her game face back on. “Alright then. Let’s get it working then!” She walked up to the console. “All the TARDIS needs to do is make a return trip. Just reverse.”

“Yeah, but we still can’t do it.” Mickey argued.

“Shut up, Idiot.” I tapped the side of the computer. “The TARDIS is telepathic. She can  _ hear _ you.”

“It’s not listening now, is it?” Mickey replied, snarky.

“Because you’re being an idiot.” I scolded. “We just need to get inside the circuits.”

“Last time I saw you, with the Slitheen, this middle bit opened, and there was this light, and the Doctor said it was the heart of the TARDIS.” Rose explained to Mickey. To be honest, she sounded on the edge of mad. “If we can open it, I can make contact. I can tell it what to do.”

“Sounds good! Let’s get to cracking!” I cheered.

“Rose.” Mickey cautioned.

“Mmm?” Rose glances up at him,  _ through  _ him.

“If you go back, you’re going to die.” Mickey stated.

“I’ll die too, half-wit.” I supplied. Mickey glared at me. “But who cares right?”

“That’s a risk we’ve got to take, because there’s nothing left for us here.” Rose added.

“Okay, if that’s what you think, let’s get this thing open.” Mickey agreed.

“Alright then. Terra, how do we open it?” Rose asked. 

“I don’t know how to  _ drive  _ her. You think I know how to  _ open  _ her?” I asked, surprised.

Rose nodded.

I paused, then turned to Mickey. “Get your car and a hook. This’ll take awhile.”

 

==CON==

 

They were trying out the car thing. I’d gone over to talk to Jackie.

“That pale girl left ages ago.” Jackie said before I got within a few feet. “With some creepy girl.”

“Creepy like knives or like prostitute?” I asked, casually.

Jackie paused. “...both.”

“Then Dakota’s fine.” I cheered, smiling too wide. “Thanks for the help!”

I went back to the TARDIS. Mickey’s car was burning up a lot of rubber. I paid it no mind, going to the console just as the chain broke.

“You said that would work!” Rose shouted at me, kicking the console.

“It did. We got her attention.” I supplied, knocking on the console. “Now we have to  _ keep  _ it.”

 

==CON==

 

While the Tyler’s argued, I was below deck talking to the TARDIS.

“He’s gonna die.” I began. “We both know that. We both know how, too. Help us? I don’t want that to be Rose. She doesn’t deserve that in her mind.”

The TARDIS didn’t answer. Not even in my mind.

“She doesn’t. It could kill her.”

_ ‘I’ll die too, half-wit.’ _ My own voice echoed, with the TARDIS behind it.

“I’m me. I’ve had worse in my head.”

She didn’t answer right away.  _ ‘I looked into Rose Tyler, and she’ll look into me.’ _

“Does she have to?” I asked, weakly. My last Plan had failed.

The TARDIS showed me an image of them kissing.

I grunted in annoyance. “It won’t go like that for me.”

The TARDIS mentally laughed.

“I just don’t want her to go through that.”

She showed me an image of Rose, crying and alone, on a dying TARDIS.

“Or that. I’ll keep him from staying dead.” I promised. “Just please let us open your heart.”

 

==CON==

 

“There’s got to be something else we can do.” Mickey encouraged.

We were leaning on his car. Rose was between us, keeping a mediator position. It was smarter than putting nd next to Mickey.

“Mickey Smith, voice of hope. What has changed on this Earth since I last saw it?” I asked, a teasing smirk on my face.

Mickey glared at me over Rose.

“Mum was right. Maybe we should just lock the door and walk away.” She sighed.

“And now Carolina Rose is being a downer. What bizarro world is this?!” I turned around to Rose. “Where’s the girl that smack talked to a flap of skin? That sassed a man who locked her in a room with a zombie? The girl that touched a Dalek and lived?”

“It’s pointless, Terra. There’s nothing.” Rose replied, full of melancholy.

“Nope. I don’t accept your quitter talk. There’s gonna be a way!” I cheered. 

“Terra Johnson, cheering people up. Maybe we  _ are  _ in the  _ Twilight Zone _ .” Mickey snarked.

“Watch you mouth, Smith!” I turned towards the corner, where you could already hear Jackie driving up. “If you’ll turn your attention to the left, cadets, you will see Commander Jackie Lynn Tyler, providing on the ground support for our next experiment.”

Rose and Mickey gawked.

“Please hold your applause until the experiment is complete.” I advised.  _ ‘Their lucky I didn’t make a bet. I’d’ve made a killing.’ _

“Right, you’ve only got this until six o’clock, so get on with it.” Jackie explained, parking the truck behind Mickey’s Mini. 

“Mum, where the hell did you get that from?” Rose asked.

Mickey was gobsmacked.

“Rodrigo. He owes me a favor.” Jackie supplied. She climbed out of the thing. She marched up to her daughter’s face. She braced herself. “Never mind why, but you were right about your dad, sweetheart. He was full of mad ideas, and it’s exactly what he would’ve done. Now, get on with it before I change my mind.”

She tossed the keys to Mickey.

 

==CON==

 

I was sitting on the pilot seat,  _ waiting _ .

“Keep going!” Rose shouted at Mickey. 

“Put your foot down!” Jackie was shouting too. 

“Faster!” Rose called out.

“Give it some more, Mickey!”

The metal was  _ straining.  _ It wasn’t going to hold the TARDIS long. 

“Keep going!” Rose shouted.

“Come on, come on!” Jackie shouted.

I looked up to the TARDIS.  _ ‘Let it go.’ _

_ ‘No.’ _ She replied, childishly.  _ ‘You are the one being childish.’ _

_ ‘Am not!’ _

“Keep going!”

“Give it some more!”

_ ‘He’s gonna die if you don’t!’ _ I reminded.

The TARDIS didn’t like that I was right. Mostly because she could see my next Plan.

The console top popped off.  The golden energy began streaming out.

I was ready to take it, instead of Rose, when there was this _ pounding _ headache in my head. The pain sent me to knees.

Just in time to miss the vortex opening.

For Rose to look inside.

“Rose!” I shouted as the doors slammed shut.

 

==CON==

 

The TARDIS was in flight. I avoided the Bad Wolf, positioning myself by the pilot’s seat. She didn’t look away from me though, just  _ staring _ at me. The eyes were a glowing gold, Time Vortex swirling around what used to be Rose’s pupils. The gold reminded me of my own eyes. I tried to ignore that thought.

She was still staring at me. Her expression was blank, none of the life that Rose always had. The Bad Wolf tilted her head at me in curiosity. Or maybe it wasn’t curiosity. It could’ve been this uncaring scan.

“What?” I snapped.

“You are different.” The Bad Wolf remarked.

It didn’t make me feel better about her piercing stare. I shuffled uncomfortably. “Whatever.”

“You are Time Lady, yet not.” The Bad Wolf went on. My whole body tensed the more she spoke. “You are human, yet not. I can see you, Stardust, for who you are. Your sister. She is special too. She is not Time Lady, and not human. Together you walk the worlds, and you’ve kept yourself hidden for so long.”

I couldn’t think of much to say against that. How did the Doctor argue with her? How can  _ anyone _ argue with the Time Vortex? “It’s Johnson, not Stardust.”

_ ‘Well I can’t argue with it either.’ _

“You’re not a Spencer either.” The Bad Wolf commented.

I stood up to my feet. My hand gripped the pilot seat. My eyes narrowed on her, trying to make the amber as dangerous as the glowing gold. “How do you know that?”

“I can _ hear _ you, Stardust. All that noise you make in this universe, and the echoes in makes in other worlds.” Bad Wolf repeated that strange name. “I see who you always are, who you’ve always been, and yet what you’ll become. I  _ hear _ them, their song.”

She was starting to scare me now. I’m being honest. The Bad Wolf was  _ freaking _ me out. “Stop it. Seriously, stop it. You’ll hurt Rose if you keep looking at it.”

This made the Bad Wolf pause. She tilted her head back to ramrod straight alignment with her spine. 

The TARDIS made a smooth landed. It didn’t even move the handbrake, just made the noise. Without moving the handbrake, I don’t know how it made the noise. When I turned to the door, I saw the Bad Wolf making the noise in the exact way Idris did in  _ The Doctor’s Wife _ .

_ ‘Okay. I’m impressed now.’ _

The Bad Wolf didn’t as much as grin at me. She marched toward the doors, swinging them open. 

She materialized herself down the walkway. I stumbled out after her.

The Doctor was surrounded by Daleks. They were aiming their whisks toward him. Clearly Bad Wolf has come out too quick for them to move.

He didn’t notice my walking out. He wouldn’t look away from Rose. “What’ve you done?”

“I looked into the TARDIS, and the TARDIS looked into me.” The Bad Wolf replied. 

“You looked into the Time Vortex. Rose, no one’s meant to see that.” The Doctor was pleading, begging, wanting anything else to be his reality than what was before him.

_ ‘Or maybe, he just didn’t want it to be Rose.’ _

“Doctor, that’s not Rose!” I called out to him, running over to his side.

“This is the Abomination!” The Dalek Emperor decreed.

“Exterminate!”

“No!” I shouted in warning.

The Doctor pulled me down to him. There wasn’t time for him to grab Rose.

The Dalek fired a beam at the Bad Wolf. She raised her arm, hand flat. The beam hit the center of her hand. She showed no sign of being shot, or aware that she  _ was being  _ shot.

I gaped at her.

“I am the Bad Wolf. I create myself.” The Bad Wolf explained. She moved her raised arm towards the moniker. “I take the words, I scatter them in time and space. A message to lead myself here.”

With a wave of her hand, the words vanished. 

“Rose, you’ve got to stop this. You’ve got to stop this now. You’ve got the entire vortex running through your head. You’re going to burn.” The Doctor pleaded with her.

The Bad Wolf seemed to back off at his request. The golden glow of her eyes faded, leaving instead Rose’s normal brown.

“I want you safe. My Doctor, and my Terra.” Rose explained, simply and matter of fact. That one thing, that one simple thing, was the only reason she needed to do _ all _ of this. “Protected from the false god.” She spat.

“You cannot hurt me. I am immortal.” The Dalek Emperor argued.

“You are tiny.” Her words echoed, as if spoken by a thousand voices at the same time. She narrowed her eyes at the Dalek Emperor, her blank expression somehow not hiding her disgust. “I can see the whole of time and space. Every single atom of your existence, and I divide them.”

The Bad Wolf came back to her eyes. The golden mist swirled around her irises, bleeding out onto her cheeks to mix with Rose’s tears. 

“Everything must come to dust. All things. Everything dies.” The Bad Wolf announced. She looked over to the line of Daleks. I followed her line of sight, in time to see them vanishing to dust. “The Time War ends.”

One by one, the Daleks faded. From the viewscreen to the Dalek ship, I saw more of them melting away.

_ The entire Dalek Fleet wiped out in a single second. _

_ I watched it happen. _

_ I  _ made _ it happen. _

Well not exactly...but it was near enough.

“I will not die. I cannot die!” The Dalek Emperor shouted, just before he died. His ship with him.

And we always came back to here. Those lines where your hearts just want to  _ break. _

“Rose, you’ve done it. Now stop. Just let go.” The Doctor pleaded.

“She  _ can’t _ !” I stressed to him.

“How can I let go of this? I bring life.” The Bad Wolf took in a short breath, more tears pouring down her cheek.

Then I felt  _ him _ wake up.

You know that spike of unease you get when you spot a beehive, and they look _ angry _ ? Or when you see the jocks, and they see you, and they have murder in their eyes? How about when you can hear your friend just _ that close _ to spoiling a movie you like? All of those of leave with this urge to  _ run away _ .

Then came the awful realization that this feeling was coming from _ Jack _ . My companion. My  _ friend _ . Just this sense of complete _ escape-escape-need to escape _ digging into my skull.  _ And he wasn’t even in the room! _ How could the Doctor stand even standing next to him?

_ If he barely could...how will I? _

_ Jack...I’m so sorry...you’ll never forgive me but I’m sorry... _

“But this is wrong! You can’t control life and death.” The Doctor stressed.

_ “Well apparently she can!”  _ I snapped at him, mentally.

“But I can. The sun and the moon, the day and night, the Stars.” The Bad Wolf paused. The golden glow muting back to Rose’s brown eyes. “But why do they hurt?”

“The power’s going to kill you and it’s my fault.” The Doctor admitted. His voice was shaking in pain, like I’d taken out his ribs.

_ You did worse. You broke his hearts. _

“I can see everything. All that is, all that was, all that ever could be.” Rose near squeaked.

“That’s what I see. All the time.” The Doctor got up to his feet. I turned to the TARDIS. She was so quiet, in my head. “And doesn’t it drive you mad?”

She was right. I couldn’t have taken Rose’s place.

_ I could only sit back and watch. _

“My head.” Rose whimpered.

“Come here.” The Doctor cupped her cheeks in his hands.

“It’s killing me.” Rose pleaded with him.

“I think you need a Doctor.” The Doctor stated.

Rose didn’t argue. 

The Doctor pulled Rose Tyler in for a kiss.

The rest, you already know.

I stood up on shaky feet once Rose collapsed in his arms. My head turned towards the exit. Jack was on the other side of those doors. I felt it, felt _ him. _

“JACK?!” I couldn’t help but call out.

There was no reply.

“JACK?!” I shouted again.

There was a heavy metal clanging sound. “ _ TERRA?!” _

“JACK!” I screamed, so happy just to hear his voice.

His footsteps were echoing heavily on the empty space station. “TERRA!”

The Doctor grabbed my wrist. I tried to push him off.

_ I just needed to see him. Just one more time. I needed to tell Jack I was sorry. _

But then I realized I  _ had _ escaped. I turned back to the Doctor, seeing the golden glow of regeneration racing in the veins of his neck. The Doctor didn’t say anything, just dragged me to the TARDIS.

“No...no...I have to tell him.” I pleaded, hot tears pouring on my cheeks. “I have to tell Jack!”

The Doctor pushed me inside the TARDIS. The doors closed behind him, locking.

“Terra!” Jack called from the other side.

“Jack!” I screamed, pushing the Doctor aside. I ran to the doors, pounding on them. “Jack wait!”

“Terra!” Jack shouted back.

The TARDIS engines started whirring. I screamed again as they got louder. Jack’s shouts got quieter and quieter. I pressed my forehead against the door, wanting to hear every last bit of Captain Jack Harkness’ voice. I never wanted to forget them, when he wasn’t angry at us.

And then, I couldn’t hear them at all.

Pushing myself around, I let my back slide along the doors. When my butt hit the metal floors I began to sob into my knees.

The Doctor, he watched silently. Between my crying self, and the comatose Rose.

 

==CON==

 

So it was over.

All this work, all this planning, and it was over.

The Doctor was dying. There was nothing to be done for him now. He wasn’t doing anything to hide it. He was giving me this comforting smile that did nothing to help me. It didn’t help anything, or stop it. 

He kept almost starting conversations. He would take note of my expression, usually focused on the golden swirls of energy beneath a layer of skin. He went back to the console after that, wait ten seconds, then start over again.

He found a middle ground just as Rose’s foot started to twitch.

_ ‘It’s not dying.’ _ He assured me mentally.  _ ‘It just feels like it.’ _

_ ‘I know.’ _ My hand brushed down on my stomach, where two matching scars stood out against my skin.  _ ‘You should cease and desist trying to provide me with comfort.’ _

_ ‘Cease and desist? What are you, UNIT?’ _ The Doctor repeated.  _ ‘When did you get all serious? I was expecting more swearing out of you.’ _

I didn’t reply.

He didn’t expect me to.  _ ‘I’ll still be me.’ _

_ ‘Shut up.’ _

_ ‘Terra it’s a delicate process-’ _

_ ‘That’s not why I’m mad.’ _

_ ‘So you are mad about something.’ _ He realized. I cursed myself for falling for that.  _ ‘Is it about what Rose had to do?’ _

_‘No.’_ _Partly._

_ ‘I didn’t know she’d do that. Rose was supposed to stay on Earth.’  _ The Doctor tried to convince me.

But I was angry. He wasn’t going to stop that because he ‘didn’t know’.  _ ‘I’m a nomad. I don’t stay in one place. It gives me anxiety.’ _

The self-diagnosis didn’t surprise him. Something else did though. I could sense it when he spoke again.  _ ‘I wouldn’t leave on Earth. The TARDIS would show you how to fly her, no doubt the manual is around here somewhere. I wouldn’t leave you somewhere where Logan could find you.’ _

A lot of things sounded wrong with that explanation. Didn’t he throw the manual in a supernova? Or had that not happened yet? Also,    _ ‘Logan?’ _ I asked.

_ ‘He didn’t find you already, did he?’ _

_ ‘Who is he? Is he some...Time Lord guy I’m supposed to know about?’ _ I asked. The Doctor became concerned. Sending the confusion, I looked up to him. It was so much worse, seeing those blue eyes and the suspicion underneath. It was one of my favorite expressions on Nine.  _ ‘Oh crap. Is he part of UNIT? I don’t know any of your UNIT people.’ _

The Doctor paused. Rose’s arm twitched that time. She was about to wake up.  _ ‘Terra. Don’t play dumb.’ _

_ ‘Hey! Just because I don’t know that Logan guy doesn’t mean you can call me an idiot!’ _ I snapped.

_ ‘You don’t remember Logan?’ _

_ ‘...should I?’ _

That was when Rose woke up.

“What happened?” She mumbled, drowsy.

“Don’t you remember?” The Doctor asked.

It wasn’t until later that I wondered which of us he was asking. 

“It’s like there was this singing.” Rose wondered.

“That’s right. I sang a song and the Daleks ran away.” The Doctor beamed. His smile that was  _ too _ cheery appeared on his face. 

“Your singing sucked so bad, it scared off a room of Brits during World War One.” I teased. Anything to get that smile off his face.

“That was a bomb warning.” The Doctor countered. 

“Not the way I remember it.” I went on.

“I was at home.” Rose was continuing to mutter. “No, I wasn’t, I was in the TARDIS, Terra was there, and there was this light.” She seemed to hit a mental wall. “I can’t remember anything else.”

_ ‘It was for the best.’ _ I thought to myself. My train of thought cut off when I saw his hand glowed again.

“Rose Tyler, Terra Johnson.” He looked to Rose and I, fondly. “I was going take you to so many places. Barcelona. Not the city Barcelona, the planet Barcelona. You’d love it. Fantastic place. They’ve got dogs with no noses.” He laughed, giddy. I chuckled under my breath.  “Imagine how many times a day you end up telling that joke, and it’s still funny.”

“Then, why can’t we go?” Rose countered.

It brought down his mood. “Maybe you will, and maybe I will. But not like this.” The Doctor pointed at me. “I was gonna learn who you were, before.”

I scoffed, trying to hide any sadness I felt. “You and I both know this mystery takes  _ several _ lifetimes to solve.”

“Looks like it will.” The Doctor agreed.

I sucked in a noise of pain. 

“Neither of you are making sense.” Rose got up to her feet.

“I might never make sense again. I might have two heads, or no head. Imagine me with no head.” I opened my mouth for comment. He half glared at me, still joking. “And don’t say that’s an improvement.” I smiled sadly, leaning against the railing. “But it’s a bit dodgy, this process. You never know what you’re going to end up with.”

His whole body suddenly lit up bright gold. He curled in on himself, as the glow brightened.

“Doctor!” I ran up to Rose. I took hold of her arm, keeping her back.

“Keep her away!” The Doctor ordered me. He must be holding off the regeneration. Not for long, just until he was sure neither of us would be hit.

“Doing it!”

“One of you, tell me what’s going on.” Rose pleaded.

“I absorbed all the energy of the Time Vortex, and no one’s meant to do that. Every cell in my body’s dying.” The Doctor explained, shuddering against the regeneration.

Rose began breathing rapidly. “Can’t you do something?” Rose asked me.

I shook my head. “Nothing _ I _ can do, Rose. It’s all on Magoo.”

“Yeah, I’m doing it now. Time Lords have this little trick, it’s sort of a way of cheating death. Except it means I’m going to change, and I’m not going to see either of you again.” The Doctor shrugged in pain. “Not like this. Not with this daft old face. And before I go-”

“Don’t say that.” Rose interrupted him. She pushed herself out of my grip. Confident she wouldn’t rush him, I let her.

“Rose, Terra, before I go, I just want to tell you, both of you were fantastic. Absolutely fantastic. And do you know what? So was I.”

Then, in a fiery explosion of gold, the Ninth Doctor was gone. You could feel this heat coming off of it. I flinched away from it. The gold fire gave way to longer brown hair. His chin grew longer. Need I mention the shrinking nose and ears?

His body snapped out of it soon enough. It made it easier to see his now dark brown eyes.

_ ‘Tenth Doctor, Happy Birthday.’ _

“Hello. Okay. Ooo, new teeth. That’s weird.” He looked to me, then Rose. “So, where was I?”

“Barcelona.” I prompted him.

The Doctor smiled at me, then to Rose. “That’s right, Barcelona.”

 

==CON==

 

Meanwhile, hundreds of centuries before, an agent returned to his desk. His phone was lighting up with a message. He left it in his desk in case it was a  _ personal _ call, from someone the night before. He was expecting the gentleman from the bar the other night, Not  _ her. _

_ “Jack?” _ A teenager’s voice choked on a cry.

Captain Jack Harkness, head of Torchwood Three, dropped his phone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> To all those who gave kudos, bookmarks, and subscribed, THANK YOU!!!!
> 
> So yeah. This is NOT a one-and-done story. Be on the lookout for-okay well...time to say it. This story will be continued in...The Tenth Impact! ETA is unknown, because of reasons! For any updates, check my official tumblr blog: authora97-writing-updates.
> 
> I’m so happy you all have been along with me for this story! When I originally published this, a friend had encouraged me to give publishing a try. I owe her a lot of thanks! More than that, this story (AND YOU GUYS!) have helped my writing and self confidence. I’ve mended relationships while writing this fic, inspired other generations and basically made myself get out of bed.
> 
> YOU are what kept this story alive, even when I felt awful and wanted to throw in the towel. YOU have given me so many laughs and good times. Your reviews are like food to my soul! HUMANITY IS TERRIFIC!
> 
> Special thanks to misspadaleckistan, for the kick in the butt I needed. And to djmegamouth, who’s reviews always keep my mind thinking for more. And to Stenzle, wherever you are, for your encouragment!


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